The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’ [Isaiah 29:13]
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe [set up] your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ [Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:1] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ [Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9] But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Religious traditions usually start out with good intentions. People begin practices, routines, even disciplines, and other outward actions that are intended to bring about a deep spiritually, internal impact.
But, often, people lose the deep reason, the “why” behind the tradition. The result is that traditions often become laws. And where there are laws people look for loopholes.
Let’s think of a modern example: the church season of Lent. Lent is a season that is observed by some Christian traditions before Easter. Right before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, many communities around the world celebrate with a party called Carnival.
Why? Because during Lent, people practice spiritual disciplines where they deny themselves certain pleasures. They call this “fasting”. The original reason for fasting was that these disciplines were designed to help one draw closer to God. I remember telling a person who, for decades, had begrudgingly observed Lent, that on Sunday’s, they could take a break. “No!” was their response. So, I asked, “How many days is Lent?” They answered, “40!”, which is correct. I then got out a calendar, and we counted the days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, omitting Sundays. Sunday is never a day of fasting. Sunday is always a day of celebration. On Sunday, you can take a day off from your fast. They were very upset. Why? Because for years they had missed what they now understood was a loophole.
The point? Religion had bound them to a law which was long separated from its underlying reason.
Today we read about how Jesus “calls out” the religious of his day for finding a loophole that, when enacted, breaks one of the Ten Commandments. Crazy, right!
In Jesus’ day, if you took some of your possessions, even money, and labelled it as set apart for God, then you did not have to share it.
Where did this come from? Not the Bible. It was a religious tradition. And, I could see how this might make sense. But it turned into a sort of tax shelter from other religious obligations, like supporting your aged parents.
So, when the religious start pulling out their rule book against Jesus’ disciples, he pulls no punches. He lets them know that their rules have, in the end, resulted in violating God’s Word.
Jesus always gets to the point. It is about what is inside of us.
Listen to his words in verses 21-23
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.
Jesus digs deeply to the heart of the matter—our hearts. He deals with the condition of our hearts completely in Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount). In Matthew 5:21-30 you can hear him making the same points as today’s reading.
When we are deeply connected to Jesus, his words challenge us.
Where in our hearts does he need to cleanse and purify us?
It is never about legalism, it is always about our relationship with him.
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