Mark 7:6-8
When
you travel to a foreign country you often have to obtain some of the local
currency. This isn’t usually a problem for us these days. You just go to the
local ATM, put in your card and enter your PIN, and out comes local currency at
the bank’s exchange rate. This exchange rate, the price of one currency paid
for in another currency, is constantly changing. When you can purchase more of
the local currency in your own money your purchasing power goes up. It becomes
less expensive to visit. If you buy less with that same amount of your own
money, things get relatively more expensive.
When
people exchange one thing for another there is always a risk. We do it every
day when we use money. We exchange our labor for goods and services using money
as the medium of that exchange. We work, they give us money, then we spend the
money and get what we want and need. You give your money hoping that what you
receive is worth what you paid. You just never know.
The
religious leaders of Jesus’ day were involved in an exchange that in the end
would disappoint them. They would never get what they hoped for. Let’s take a
look at their exchange.
The
religious leaders thought they could say the right things and keep a very
strict set of rules and that would win them God’s favor. If they just said and
did all the right things, then they would be in good with God. They thought their
outward look would lock in their destiny.
Jesus
enters their lives. He flips everything they believe on its head. He is with
His disciples and they are not keeping the carefully prescribed set of rules
that govern daily life. They don’t ritually wash their hands after coming home
from being among non-Jews. They don’t wash the religious contamination off.
They just eat.
Jesus
begins to point out their hypocrisy by quoting the Old Testament prophet
Isaiah. He was God’s spokesperson at a critical time in Israel’s history. And
every one of these religious leaders would have recognized Jesus’ quote. And
this quote goes right to the heart of the problem with any system that requires
outward performance measures that validate a religious level of purity. They
all fail.
We
can hide under our words. Politicians have perfected this art. They carefully
craft their statements to ensure they have plenty of wiggle-room. Currently is
seems as if all their hearts are bent on getting power and keeping power. They
are not carrying out our wishes. They are doing “what’s best for us” in hopes
we will like it enough to keep them in power. This attitude is very
condescending. Since when do politicians know what is best for us! And then
they have the gall to exempt themselves from this “best.”
These
religious leaders could only deal in one currency at a time. They either obeyed
God or kept their own set of rules. They could not do both. We can’t do both
either. We can either rely on our ability to do the right thing as a means to
relationship with God, or we can rely on His ability to rescue us from our
failure. We can’t hold onto both.