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It’s What Comes From Within
This Sunday (Aug 16th), we are presented with one of those “compound” gospel texts
that come around every so often. Beginning with a teaching of Jesus, then moving to an
encounter in which that teaching becomes the way Jesus responds. For Matthew, this is
a telling pattern used to connect the words of Jesus with the deeds of Jesus.
But for the sake of clarity, this coming Sunday I’ve chosen not to include this initial set-
up of teaching to the disciples. But it is very important, especially in our world today, that
I wanted to address it for our own growth.
Matthew 15:10-28 is the assigned text from the Lectionary: but I want to address vs 10-
20 separately from the last eight verses (which are very familiar to most of us – the
Canaanite women with a possessed daughter).
10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not
what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth
that defiles.” 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the
Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant
that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are
blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a
pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also
still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth
enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil
intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what
defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
This entire section of Matthew (15:1-28) is concerned with ritual purity – who is
clean/unclean and what makes them that way? In verses 1-9, Jesus is questioned by
Pharisees and scribes as to why his disciples “break with the tradition of the elders” -
not washing their hands before eating. Jesus responds by asking why do the Pharisees
“break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition” – by not honoring their
parents.
Jesus calls together the crowd following him and asked them to listen. What makes a
person "unclean" (koinos = "common") comes from within, not from outside themselves. The disciples tell Jesus that the Pharisees were offended by his comeback response, but Jesus tells them, “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind, And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”
How often do those who espouse a deep piety or religious devotion get in front of a
crowd of folks who see themselves likewise and are then led into a cascade of
comments that degrade and dehumanize those “others” who are not as faithful as they
are? We are confused as to how these souls are being led by people who are blind to
their own sinfulness and deceit. Usually, it’s done for worldly purposes, such as financial
wealth, political power, or to glorify an ego or two. But it’s as if they cannot see where
their path leads them.
Jesus goes on to issue a warning to his disciples against overrating ritual correctness
as criteria for judging/condemning others. Do we really believe that it is not those things
from the outside that come in and defile us, but what is already inside of us that comes
out? Things such as the hatred of the “other,” the fear of “missing out,” and rejecting the
idea that “we” might have understood or acted wrongly in the past.”
We, too, need to be careful not to fall into simplistic caricatures of Pharisees or other
"opponents" we may name. I.e., WE have the correct understanding of the Word of God. THEY are misled by human traditions. We need to be aware of our own
tendencies of placing our traditions ahead of God's word and will.
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people were not to act like the people around
them. They were to be different. So they didn’t work on the seventh day. They didn’t eat
some foods. They didn’t worship the local gods and goddesses. They did some other
things that might seem strange to the folks around them; but those differences are what
made them special – the holy people of God – set apart from other people. They weren’t
to be like the common or ordinary peoples in the area.
When Christians think and speak and act like everybody else, we too become common
and ordinary, which becomes defiled, contaminated, unclean – but certainly not beyond
redemption by God.
Christ came to set us apart from the “common” prejudiced ways of the world. Against
the ways of power and prejudice. Against the ways of greed and self-aggrandizement.
Against the preference of “me and mine” over the preference for the “other.” Against the
rejection of what we have not experienced but makes us “uncomfortable” over the
concern for the sake of those with whom we find it difficult to identify.
This is the way of Jesus – not law, but grace.
Shalom.
Pr. Mark
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