Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
St. Mark 7:1-13
Clean & Unclean,
Part One
Proper 16B, 26 August 2012
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Grape juice on a white carpet. Grass stains on a football
uniform. Tomato sauce on your favorite white shirt. Oil on a driveway. We are
all familiar with impossible-to-remove stains, the dirty things in our lives,
the unclean. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” the saying goes. We use soap
& water, baking soda, 409, and even the heavy artillery, ammonia or bleach.
Americans can readily identify with the concern of the Pharisees in our text
today: “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands?” Or rather, “Why don’t your disciples live according to
the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
This wasn’t the first leading question Jesus was asked by
the Pharisees. Before this occasion, Mark’s gospel account tells of several
previous problems with the Pharisees and teachers of the law. This wasn’t the
first confrontation, and it wouldn’t be the last.
The people noticed a difference between Jesus’ teaching and
what they were used to hearing, even in the first chapter of this gospel
account. They noted (1:22) that He
taught as one who had authority and not as the teachers of the law. In the next
chapter, (2:18) the Pharisees questioned Jesus about fasting. By the third
chapter, (3:6) after Jesus heals the man with a shriveled hand, the Pharisees
began a dirty plot to kill Jesus. It is amazing that they plan to kill Jesus so
soon. The Chief priests and teachers of the law don’t get around to such
plotting until chapter 11!
The sermon this week, as well as the sermon next week, is on
Mark Chapter 7.
Now, (chapter 7) with their plot in mind, looking for a way
to trip Him up, they query Jesus about ceremonial washings and uncleanness.
7 Now when the
Pharisees gathered to him [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem, 2 they
saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is,
unwashed. 3 (For the
Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,
holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and
when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And
there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups
and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)
John of Damascus informs us about the Pharisees: “Pharisee
is a name meaning ‘those who are set apart.’ They followed a way of life which
they regarded as more perfect. They esteemed their way as superior to others.
They affirmed the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels, and
holiness of life. They followed a rigorous way of life, practicing asceticism
and sexual abstinence for periods of time and fasting twice a week. They
ceremonially cleansed their pots and plates and cups, as did the scribes. They
observed the paying of tithes, the offering of first fruits, and the recitation
of many prayers” (ACCS 92).
The tradition of the elders does not refer to Old Testament
purity laws handed down to Moses by the Lord, but an extrabiblical custom
adopted by the Pharisees. Such handwashing was done, according to Mark (7:3)
either with a “handful” of water or by pouring water over “cupped” hands—the Greek
term is ambiguous. Mothers everywhere today rejoice in the washing of hands.
The Pharisees have a different concern than our modern concern about germs—theirs
a spiritual one.
5 And the
Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according
to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Unclean? Jesus and his disciples unclean? According to whose
standard? Incredible importance is being placed on human tradition in this
accusation. By the time of Jesus, God’s Old Testament people had devised their
own rules and regulations to help them keep God’s laws. Sometimes they missed
the point of their religious devotion. So much for what Deuteronomy 4 teaches
us: Do not add to what I command you and
do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give
you.
6 And he [Jesus]
said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they
worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Jesus concludes: 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to
the tradition of men.”
Peter summarizes this teaching well in Acts 5:29: “We must
obey God rather than men.”
What is really important here? Going through the motions of
piety, or being a pious, repentant sinner? To put it in contemporary terms,
they were coming to church, tithing, were incredibly involved in their
congregation, and looking presentable, but doing it all for the wrong reasons.
Does their man-made tradition of washing make them really clean? Does it please
a holy God? Does it remove their sin?
Consider their misplaced priorities. God desires mercy, not
sacrifice, and a repentant tax collector to a proud Pharisee.
9 And he
said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order
to establish your tradition! 10 For
Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father
or mother must surely die.’ 11 But
you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have
gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)4— 12 then you no longer
permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Jerome explains the spiritual danger the Pharisees were
teaching to their followers: “The Lord himself discussed that commandment of
the Law which says: ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ He made it clear that it
is to be interpreted not as mere words, which, while offering an empty show of
honor to parents, might still leave them poor and their necessities unrelieved.
Instead, the honor of parents should focus on the actual provision of the
necessities of life. The Lord commanded that poor parents should be supported
by their children who would reimburse them back when they are old for all those
benefits which they themselves received in childhood. The scribes and Pharisees
instead were teaching children to honor their parents by saying: ‘It is corban,
that is to say, a gift which I have promised to the altar and will present at
the temple, where it will relieve you as much as if I were to give it to you
directly to buy food.’ So it frequently happened that while father and mother
were destitute, their children were offering sacrifices for the priests and
scribes to consume” (ACCS 93).
Peter returns our focus to the priority of the Lord’s Word
in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”
We would do well to avoid the self-righteous pride of the
Pharisees and continually confess that we have sinned in thought, word and
deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Forgive us, good
Lord!
We would also profit from getting our priorities straight
when it comes to God’s Word: to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
And be careful not to add our own traditions, our own regulations or rules and
elevate them to the level of divine authority at the expense of genuine divine
law.
Before we conclude our consideration of this first section
of Mark Chapter 7, we need to spend some more time on verse four. Please listen
carefully as I re-read the text: And
there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups
and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.
Did you hear it? Did you hear the word “baptizing” in the
text? No? That’s because we’re dealing with an English translation of Mark 7:4.
Why is this even important? Some Christians insist that baptisms MUST be done
by immersion. The way the word for wash/baptize is used here means that we must
merely apply water. That is the basic meaning of the word anyway.
L101: “The word
baptism simply means to apply water. One could pour, sprinkle, or immerse. Some
Christian groups insist that a person must be immersed in order to be truly
baptized. Does Scripture insist on “dunking”? No. Christians have the freedom
to apply water in Holy Baptism in a variety of ways. And as you’ve [heard]
(read) before, we can’t add to God’s Word by insisting on something that the
Lord Himself does not insist upon. That being said, most Lutheran churches will
administer Baptism by pouring water over the head of the one being baptized.
This became the normal practice among Lutherans during the Reformation when
some insisted that Baptism was valid only by full immersion” (Cain, 138).
Do you see the connections between this text and the main
point of today’s text? We must obey God rather than men. We can’t elevate human
teachings, opinions, or preferences to the level of God’s Word OR demote the
authority of God’s Word to that of mere human preference, wisdom or appearance.
In addition, we have the blessing of Mark 7:4. The word
usually translated at “washing” in this verse is the same word we would
normally translate as “baptizing.”
Please listen again as I re-read a corrected translation of
the text: And there are many other
traditions that they observe, such as the baptizing of cups and pots and
copper vessels and dining couches.
Why is this obscure verse helpful as we discuss with other
Christians how baptism must be done? Simple. In order for something to be
insisted upon as a “must” in the Church, there can’t be any Bible verse that
contradicts it being a “must.” Mark 7:4 is just that verse for us with regard
to the insistence of some that baptisms must be immersions. The word “baptism”
means “apply water.” Not even all of the Pharisees’ pots and couches were fully
immersed—just washed.
On Thanksgiving, we commonly see the turkey go in the oven
in a big black-and-white-speckled enamel roaster. Once it is time to wash up
the roaster, will something that big fit into mom’s sink? Probably not. It
might sit on the counter next to the sink soaking, letting the water and
detergent do its work. Is it possible to wash that big enamel roasting pan
without immersing or dunking it entirely in water? Sure. Just like the way the
Pharisees themselves “washed” their larger pots and copper vessels.
When your sofa or dining room chairs are dirty, do you take
them out to the river to dunk them to get them clean? Of course not! Spot
cleaning by dabbing, pouring, sprinkling, or spraying are far more appropriate.
The Greek word translated as “wash” or “baptize” includes the application of
water for cleansing.
Before we leave this subtopic, allow me to share one last
connection to our text and specifically who may be baptized. Children are
sinners—even infants—because of original sin and their actual selfishness.
Children need what baptism gives: the forgiveness of sins. Children are part of
“all nations,” those whom Jesus commissioned us to teach and baptize. And
children are included in those given to be baptized in Acts 2:39 and the
households of Acts 16. Why then, do some Christian groups deny baptism to the
youngest among us and teach baby dedication instead, a human tradition rather
than what God has Himself instituted for our good?
Luther explains the Third Commandment in this way: We should
fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it
sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
We must never elevate human teachings, opinions, or
preferences to the level of God’s Word OR demote the authority of God’s Word to
that of mere human preference, wisdom or appearance. We must obey God rather
than men. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
