Mark 7:1-23
Rules
and regulations around food are not a new condition. They did not start with
the protections that the Food and Drug Administration imposes. They did not
start with regulations about food safety and the work of multinational
corporations. There have always been rules around eating.
My
mom always insisted that we “wash our hands before eating.” We put the fork on
the left side of the plate and knife and spoon on the right, sharp edge of the
knife facing your own plate. The drinking glass was to the right side of the
plate. We were Bostonians, after all. We had culture, even though my parents
came from hard working stock. There were other rules about the order of eating.
You couldn’t eat your dessert first! Prayer started it off.
I
can bet you had some rules around eating as well, when you were growing up.
Perhaps they weren’t the same rules as mine, but think about it. Everyone has
them, even though they are often unspoken, unwritten rules. Traditions grow up
slowly over time and involve many small impositions of rules.
The
religious culture of Jesus’ day had many rules and rituals, just like cultures
today. We get a glimpse into one of those rules in our passage. The rule was
simple. If you have been out among non-Jews, wash your hands to symbolize that
you are better, holier than they are. They had many rituals that symbolized
this same distain for people not like them. And those who wouldn’t observe
these rituals were put into that “other” group. They were excluded. If you are
having trouble wrapping your mind around this, think yacht or country club with
a religious twist.
But
Jesus will have nothing to do with this exclusionary practice. No secret
handshakes, no membership cards, no outstanding annual dues. Jesus sees right
to the heart of the matter: their hearts. It wasn’t the ritual itself that
caused the greatest trouble for Jesus, it was their heart attitude that ruined
the value of the ritual.
You
see, somewhere along the spiritual journey of God’s chosen people, the Jews,
they had gotten the message that the
purpose of their choosing was that they would be chosen, that they would get an
unlimited lifetime pass to God’s amusement park. But of course that wasn’t the
LORD’s intent from the beginning. His purpose was to pass His love through a
people to the whole world. They were meant to pass it along, not become the
exclusive holders of God’s grace.
Are
there rules you have in life that close people off from the hope we have in
Christ? Do you have rituals that indicate you feel better than other people,
certain people? Do you not go certain
places because you are not like them?