Message

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TRADITION AND HEART

Mark 7:1-23

Key Verse: 7:19 “For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean”)

  The title of today’s passage is ‘tradition and heart’. It sounds like a movie title, “Tevye and his daughter,” which was later changed into “Fiddler on the Roof”. In the movie Tevye, a poor and old Jewish milkman, struggles between tradition and affection. He has five daughters who want to marry someone they love, not the ones whom their father chooses according to the Jewish tradition. The heart of Tevye is broken, when his lovely daughters marry and leave him one by one until only his wife and he remains in the Jewish compound in Russia. The title song “Sunrise, Sunset” is popular and heart moving.

  In today’s passage, Jesus helps Pharisees and teachers of the law by teaching the true meaning of being ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’.  He also teaches his disciples to have a pure heart and clean hand in the sight of God.

1. Pharisees and teachers of the law came to investigate Jesus’ company (1-5)

Recently, we have studied that so many people were following and crowding wherever Jesus went. Jesus was very popular. The news of his ministry reached even to Jerusalem. The religious leaders, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were afraid of Jesus’ popularity and that his popularity was shaking their political power. So they chose eloquent and defensive orators among them and sent them to Jesus to investigate him and his company. Look at verses 1,2. “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 “unclean,” that is, unwashed.”  It did not take long for them to catch Jesus’ disciples’ weak points. They saw Peter eating Dominos Pizza with unwashed hand. Soon, James, John and other disciples also began to eat the pizza shamelessly with unwashed hand. According to the tradition of the elders, the disciples should have washed their hands first before they ate food. Look at verses 3,4 “(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.)”

Washing hands before eating a meal is common sense. In a restaurant, all the employees should wash their hands after using the toilet.  It is a regulation for sanitation. But in Jesus’ time, ceremonial washing was one of the traditions of the elders. Generally Jewish tradition came from the prophet Ezra and Nehemiah. After returning from the Babylonian captivity, Ezra and Nehemiah worked hard to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and to restore the spirit of the Israelites as a chosen people. In order to restore their identity as God’s holy chosen people, the two prophets taught the word of God so that their people might restore their relationship with God. They also made many rules and regulations so that the people might obey God’s word in detail in their practical lives.

This was the beginning of the formation of their tradition as a chosen people. Therefore, we cannot say that tradition itself was all bad. But when a long time had passed by, the people became habitual. They did not read the Bible. Instead, they read and memorized the Mishnah and the Talmud. As time passed by, their spirit and heart of tradition was gone. Only their superficial rituals of the law remained.

The Pharisees gave their hands a ceremonial washing according to the tradition of the elders. It did not matter to them how much water they used for washing. To them even one or two drops of water was enough for keeping the tradition. On the contrary, the disciples of Jesus did not care about washing their hands. In fact, we wonder if they had enough time to wash their hands before they ate, because they were always busy serving the demanding crowds wherever they went.  

UBF has also many good traditions according to the spiritual legacy of Dr. Samuel Lee, one of the co-founders of UBF. They are one to one Bible studies, writing a testimony, eating daily bread, manger ministry, giving spirit and absolute attitude toward the worship service and so on. All these traditions are for all of us to live as good soldiers of Christ and spiritual leaders who serve our own generation.  We must not forget the spirit and the heart of these good spiritual legacies and traditions. We also must keep them well and pass them on well to our children. Tradition is good when its spirit and heart are well kept.

2. These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me (6-13)

Jesus was not happy with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who lost the spirit of the traditions. He was also sorry that his people were ignorant.  The people thought that if they kept the rules and regulations of the traditions they could be chosen people and that they could be saved. But Jesus said in verses 6-7, “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 but rules taught by men.” Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13 in order to rebuke the hypocritical religious leaders and to enlighten the ignorant crowd.  In the time of the Old Testament, priests slaughtered animals and sprinkled their blood in the holy place for atonement for the sins of the people. The priests also sacrificed burnt offerings to God. They had strict rules and regulations for ritual ceremony, but they did not have the mercy of God. They had a form of worship, but had no love of God. They had lip service but had no heart of God.  They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him.  In this way, they worshiped God in vain.

We must check our hearts to see whether we worship God in vain or not. We examine ourselves to see if we honor God with our lips or with our hearts. While delivering this message, I pray that I may honor God not only with my lips. I repent and ask for forgiveness for my sin, and ask that he will accept me and bless this worship service. We all came to worship God. We must worship God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our strength.  Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Worshiping God is not just listening to a message, participating in prayer and singing hymns. Worshiping God is more than these. Erwin W. Lutzer said “Worshiping God goes deeper. Since God is spirit, we fellowship with him with our spirit; that is, the immortal and invisible part of us meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.” I pray that all those who came to worship God here may meet God personally and that our faith in Christ Jesus may be largely strengthened by the word of God and that all our sickness may be healed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In verses 8-13, Jesus pointed out the problems of the religious leaders. Look at verses 8-13. “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother, and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man say to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’(that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you had handed down. And you do many things like that.” At Jesus’ time there was a tradition of devotion to God named ‘Corban.’ Corban was to set apart particular money for God’s use only. But, some misused it in order to avoid the responsibility of caring for their parents. In the name of ‘Corban’, they abandoned their duty and their responsibility for caring for their parents and nullified God’s commandments. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders’ hypocritical lives. We must not make excuses in order to avoid our duty in the name of doing the work of God. Students must study hard for the glory of God as well as keep their duties as children of God. Workers must work hard for the glory of God by keeping all the rules and regulations of their companies. We must not defile God’s name with our laziness and irresponsibility.

3. Nothing that enters from the outside can make him unclean (14-22)

Look at verses 14, 15. “Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’” Probably they did not understand what Jesus was saying. Look at verse 17. “After they had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.” How did Jesus reply to their request? Look at verse 18-19a. “Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean?” For it does not go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” Here Jesus is telling the truth that food goes into the stomach. Food never goes into the heart. Therefore, even if his disciples ate with unwashed hands, they were not sinful. Foods which went into their stomachs, whether they were eaten with washed hand or with unwashed hands, did not make them unclean. Jesus continues to tell them what really makes man unclean.

Look at verses 20-22. “He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” In these verses Jesus is speaking of the heart problem. What goes into our stomachs does not make us unclean, but what comes out of our heart makes us unclean. If our heart is corrupted, all evil things come out of our mouths. So Jesus said in Matthew 12:34b, “…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” For example, if anyone has bitterness and hatred toward his brother in his heart, he always speaks ill of his brother. If anyone has a heart filled with a complaining spirit, her tongue will become an open tomb, full of the power of darkness. If anyone’s heart is filled with lustful desire, his influence will be not much different from a prostitute. Therefore, Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  The heart is the center of a man or a woman. We must keep our heart pure and holy before God. Above all, since we have only one heart, we must love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.

Our hearts are very vulnerable and easily tempted. Satan stole a woman’s heart and brought misery and death to this world. So we must keep our hearts from Satan’s attack and protect them from all corruptions of the sinful world. The Psalmist struggled hard to keep his heart pure and holy. In Psalm 119:9,10 he said, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  Once David committed the sin of adultery before God, his heart was broken due to his sin. But he wanted to restore his relationship with God and heal his broken heart. So he cried out to God in this, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Ps 51:10-12)

In order to keep our hearts pure and holy we must live according to the word of God. We must make every thought to obedient to Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul encouraged the people in the Corinthian church saying, “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Co 10:5b) Our Lord Jesus, before he was arrested and suffered, did not lose heart. He did not complain to God because of his suffering and impending death on the cross. He took captive every thought to make it obedient to God the Father in order to fulfill his will for world salvation. Even Christ Jesus struggled to keep his way pure and holy before God. It is very important for us what we accumulate in our hearts. It is also important what we think in our minds. We must think about things above. We must think about things eternal, spiritual, truthful, and valuable. Let us listen what Paul says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” One of our members decided to stop complaining and to memorize Bible verses every day. It was a good decision and an example of how to keep our hearts pure and holy. Another person decided to eat daily bread every morning that he may have personal prayer time with God. That was also a good decision. May God help all of us to keep our hearts pure and holy and to love God with all our hearts. Amen.

In today’s passage we learned about the true meaning of being clean and unclean. Eating a Big Mac sandwich with unwashed hand does not make us unclean. Complaining words and hateful speech make us unclean. Men look at our outward appearance, but God looks at our hearts. May God bless all of us when we give our hearts to God. Amen.

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• pamk7am-2008.doc

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