Sermon on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Pastor Jennifer Garcia
I want to start this sermon with a disclaimer: this story is not saying you shouldn’t wash your hands.
Washing your hands is a good thing and promotes not only your own health, but the health of your neighbor. Jesus is not saying here that you shouldn’t wash your hands. Drawing the conclusion from this story that you shouldn’t wash your hands would be a misjudgment.
But misjudgment is a good deal of what this story is about.
Some religious leaders had come from Jerusalem to check out this rabbi, Jesus, who had been getting a lot of attention.
And so far, they didn’t like what they were seeing.
Jesus’ ragtag bunch of disciples weren’t participating in the handwashing ritual they were accustomed to.
The reading says “all the Jews” participated in this ritual, but that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration. Think about how few rituals all Christians from every denomination do, and even then, the rituals look pretty different.
But for the religious leaders confronting Jesus, this was a big deal.And they were making judgments based on that.
Jesus was a rabbi and was failing to instruct his disciples in the way things “should” be done.
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But Jesus wasn’t having it.
He told the religious leaders that they were worried about the wrong thing. There are worse things than dirty hands (though, again, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wash your hands).
Jesus is more concerned with what’s in people’s hearts.
Our reading today skips some verses that explain more about what Jesus was pushing back at the religious leaders for.
Here are verses 9-13:
9 Then [Jesus] said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God[e])— 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”
So basically, Jesus was scolding them for focusing so much on handwashing when they were doing things like not taking care of their obligations to their families. Instead of honoring their parents, they were giving their money as an offering to God that, in their culture, they should have been using to care for their parents.
And just as handwashing and being concerned with the state of one’s inner life are both good things, providing for family members who need care and making offerings to God are both good things.
Jesus was scolding them for offloading their responsibilities (taking care of their family members) in the name of God (by donating money that could be used to care for their family members). Jesus was also scolding them for being more concerned with his disciples’ handwashing habits than the fact that the religious leaders were offloading their responsibilities. They were judging others instead of examining their own faith practices.
The religious leaders had come in judgment—observing outward actions that didn’t directly relate to the disciples’ character or love for God or the world.
Their reaction to the disciples was not loving or empathetic.
So, Jesus teaches that what most hinders us is not when we fail to uphold rituals, but when we allow the nastiness in our hearts to harm others.
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And we all do that.
We fall short. We miss the mark. We hurt each other and ourselves.
Jesus gavethe religious leaders some harsh truth: the selfishness, pride, envy, greed, etc. within us make us much sicker than the germs on our hands.
Our reading from James also lays out some tough standards:
1. be rid of that selfishness, pride, envy, greed, etc.
2. Be truthful with yourself and don’t pretend you’re holier-than-thou.
3. Act out your faith in the world; don’t just listen and go about your business unchanged.
4. Take care of widows and orphans—the most marginalized in society.
These are good things. And they’re hard.
Even our first reading from Deuteronomy is about upholding God’s commandments.
All our readings today focus on doing. And that’s important. The saying, “actions speak louder than words,” is true. And when our love for God motivates us to share that love with others, it’s often our actions that demonstrate that love most sincerely. Our faith should cause us to live differently than if we didn’t love God.
However, it’s also important to remember that our actions don’t save us. Only Jesus does that, and it’s already finished. There is nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less.
God loves you because you are, not because of what you do. So, as we meditate on these doing-oriented readings, be gentle with yourself. We are human beings who fall short, who miss the mark, who hurt each other. We are very far from perfect and are still perfectly loved.
I know that you are loving people who care deeply about your neighbor and have beautiful hopes for this community. As we continue our journey of learning how to love God and love our neighbors, and especially in this Sabbath year, let’s take a deep breath and give ourselves some of the grace we offer others. And don’t forget to wash your hands.
I’d like to share with you a poem that spoke to me this week about slowing down, being gentle with ourselves, and mostly about not being perfect.
“Walk a Little Slower”[1]
By Tanner Olson
I think today I'll walk a little slower and breathe a little deeper.
I’ll leave my phone face down, inside, and
give my eyes a rest to see beauty beyond a screen.
I’ll grab a light jacket so I can still feel the cold wind, hold your hand until it gets sweaty, and I'll let go, but I'll never let go.
I’ll walk below and between shadows, cut through the field, cross the street when the cars clear.
Today I want to find myself beneath the limbs of the trees and later on below a few million stars.
Maybe we’ll see a dog or bump into old friends or both.
I’m not counting steps or miles, but I'm just walking because for now …
I can.
And I don't know what the future holds, if my days left are long or short or, well, you get it. Maybe grief is around the corner or a missed call on my face-down phone back inside.
Maybe there is good news in my inbox or a miracle waiting in the welcome of next month.
In the morning, I’ll sit a little longer and drink a little deeper.
I’ll watch the light make its way through the dark morning.
The light always finds a way.
And I’ll remind myself life won’t always look the way it does.
Change is coming, and it might even be here.
I’ll remember the steps forward and the steps back that led me to where I am and before I begin to move these feet once again, I’ll slowly breathe in grace and exhale peace, knowing that every piece of me is here to be.
And whatever may become, well, for now,
for now, I’ll walk a little slower and breathe a little deeper.
Because right now, I'm alive.
And everything is okay.
It’s not perfect, and that’s okay.
And that’s what I'm learning to tell myself these days.
Everything is okay.
It’s not perfect, and that’s okay.
Peace to you this week as you act out your faith in love and offer grace to yourself as well as others.
[1]https://tannerolson.substack.com/p/walk-a-little-slower