Create in me a clean heart!

Mark 7: 1-23

Our Gospel lesson for today is a favorite among Barbecue connoisseurs and Bacon enthusiasts. Yes, even I think happily upon today’s Gospel lesson when I hover over my smoker, adjusting the temperature, placing just the right amount of wood chips into the smoke box, and generously spraying a thin glaze upon the slowly cooking meat. I cannot help but think, even out loud, “thank you for your insights, Jesus; this is delicious!” It’s a good thing that confession is good for the soul, however, because if that is all I can get out of the gospel today, then I have fallen into the same trap as the Pharisees. 

Today’s lesson is about the barriers that are drawn between you, me, us, all of us, and God. As protestants we have a tendency to lean all too legalistically in opposition towards legalism. We find so much fault in the legalism of the Hebrew scripture that we still often claim Jesus Christ comes to us in order to abolish the law. This isn’t just a claim made today but in scripture, and Jesus is all too aware when he clarifies; “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill the law” in Matthew’s Gospel which shares a variation of today’s gospel from Mark. 

So, in today’s Gospel, it most certainly seems that Jesus is clearing out some of the old practices of temple Judaism but I am not so sure he is clearing out the problem of legalistic Judaism as much as the problem of human inauthenticity. Second temple Judaism is in fact steeped in numerous traditions and legal codes. We find many of them in Leviticus and even Deuteronomy, today’s first lesson in fact is an example of this. And when we read these laws we can’t help but wonder where this could leave us, if it is the standard upon which we should be judged. 

My wife and I maintain a garden of squash, tomatoes, and corn; Guess what? Confession is good for the soul because yes, I am in violation of the law - Leviticus 19:19 “you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed"

In fact my own fashion as I stand here before you is in gross violation of the law. Yes, my ever so fashionable polyester/cotton blend clerical shirt is declared unfit, especially for someone such as myself standing before you in this role. Again, Leviticus 19:19 “you shall put on a garment made of two different materials.”

Leviticus 10:9 seems to even proclaim that one of the most reverential forms of worship in our service is in fact… unlawful, “Drink no wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons, when you enter the tent of meeting” the very sacrament of Holy Communion is forbidden according to the legal codes of Leviticus.

This list could go on and on and on, but that would also be missing the point today. My intention is not to discredit the manner in which we worship but to clarify the meaning of this text itself because the action is not what is being brought into question in today’s Gospel; it is the abuse of the action. Second temple rules and regulations were interpreted and presented to the people through religious lawyers and priests, who presented their interpretations of the legal codes as well as additions to those codes. This was not intended to oppress but to assist. Assisting the people of God to live lives that were worthy of being considered lives of God’s chosen people. To remain within the parameters of this chosen state, they were called to follow the legal codes prescribed so that they would remain clean. Clean in a manner less worthy of an Old Spice commercial  and more worthy of an audience with God. This was a method of purification of the body that constantly assured the purification of a person striving to be in God’s good favor because of a zest fully clean spiritual state.

What we see in much of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are spiritual disciplines meant to impact the fallen state of humanity due to sin. Methods for God’s chosen people to be called back to the righteousness of God’s favor. When we consider the tragedy that befell Israel time and again it is certainly understandable why this community would continuously strive for a state of cleanliness. There must have been little doubt within their own minds that their own uncleanliness had invited their own demise and certainly they wouldn’t want to revisit such tragedy.

Which leaves us to our Gospel lesson today and honestly, as a parent I can most certainly ask; Is washing your hands before sitting down to the table REALLY too much to ask? For Jesus it most certainly is, because this is not just a squirt of some antibacterial soap with a quick rinse under the faucet. This is a specific method of ritual purification, using a specific technique, with a specific amount of water, which was poured over the hands in a specific way, and this is all done not once but between each course offered at the table and at the conclusion of the meal as well. Certainly a bit extreme and it wasn’t just extreme to Jesus but many Jews of this period found these practices to be “too orthodox”. But I’m not so sure that Jesus confronts them due to the extreme methods of purification as much as he is confronting them on the results of such a practice. All of these practices served as spiritual surgical gloves and masks, prepared to protect the chosen from the uncleanliness and sin of the world as if an epidemic of sin had broken out without the possibility of a cure. And so instead of confronting the epidemic itself, Jesus points out that what has become the  common practice was to set things into categories; pure and impure. The problem is that no one realizes that the impurity lies within those declaring everything else to impure. 

One of my favorite programs, based on a comic book of course, is “The Walking Dead”. The program depicts a post apocalyptic world that is plagued by zombies. The protagonist, Rick Grimes, strives to seek out hope in the zombie plagued world attempting to protect both his biological family and his new extended family of survivors. At the conclusion of the first season of the program, Rick leads the group of survivors to the Center for Disease Control  in Atlanta, in hopes that a lone scientist in a bunker below the CDC has discovered a cure for this plague. In the final scene of that first season, the scientist whispers into Rick’s ear the reality that has led the scientist to abandon all hope. Rick’s horrified reaction to the secret exchange was not only kept secret from the group until the end of the second season but the audience watching as well. It turns out that what the scientist discovered and shares with Rick, is that all of humanity is in fact infected with the zombie plague and will themselves be doomed to the same fate as all the zombies wandering the post apocalyptic world. 

I can’t help but wonder if the Pharisees displayed the same shocked look as Rick Grimes when Jesus informs them that the plague of uncleanliness is not something that they can protect themselves from because they themselves are in fact already spiritually unclean, spiritually infected. 

What we are being lead to in this Gospel is that the reality of religious tradition is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is meant to remind us of the story, it is meant to call us back towards God, it is meant to assure us of the promise received in Jesus the Christ. What it is not meant to do, is to be a method of condemnation or worse a method of masking ourselves from our own impurities, sin, and selfishness. As we once claimed in our order of confession and absolution; masking this would mean that “we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”

It is in this moment that Jesus informs the Pharisees that they have indeed deceived themselves of their own impurity. If our use of tradition masks us from our own uncleanliness while instead condemning others for theirs, then we fail to understand the words of our seldom sung offertory hymn “Create in me a clean heart O’ God and renew a right spirit within me”. This is the nature of worship not to be called by the pastor, the priest, the rabbi, or the pharisee to the railing but to be personally drawn to God by the very words of Christ. Not to condemn other’s because they deny themselves the means of God’s grace but to invite- and with reverential and grateful hearts- ourselves be drawn and in turn lead others to the redemptive grace of God. But it is a natural tendency for us to be drawn in the direction of condemnation of other’s rather than invitation to the assurance we receive from outside ourselves.

~

This past Wednesday morning at 6:45 am accusations of uncleanliness were made by Vester Flanagan against previous employers and his one time coworkers. Flanagan, who used the on air name, Bryce Williams expressed his frustration with their perceived uncleanliness through a tragic act of violence that took the lives of Broadcaster Allison Parker and Cameraman Adam Ward while leaving Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed at the time, hospitalized. And, he did it all over a live broadcast in Roanoke, as I am sure you are all aware. Vester Flanagan made allegations of grievance that his employers and coworkers were hostile towards him due to his race and sexuality, pointing out their alleged uncleanliness of bigotry and racism; all the while failing to recognize the spiral of uncleanliness he himself was falling into as he carried out his own act of uncleanliness, sin, and brokenness. 

Similarly, one of the sources of Flanagan’s frustration and anger was the mass shooting at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston just a few months ago, on June 17th. The event ended similarly and with eerily similar motivations.The attack in that instance occurred at the hands of another individual who claimed grievances of uncleanliness at the hands of another. Roof claimed that his own opportunities had been limited because of the unclean and sinful agenda of those outside his own race which he alleged were “taking over the country” and “had to go”. Both of these men had formulated an agenda based on their own judgement of the uncleanliness of others. 

And let us just consider for a moment if their accusations were justified, regardless of how outlandish it may seem. Does that alleviate them of their own uncleanliness? What is worse, does my allegation of their uncleanliness alleviate me of my own?

And if I am to be a true witness to the Gospel of Christ, then who am I not to seek out the Dylan Roofs and Vester Flanagans of this world and call them BESIDE me, BESIDE US ALL as my brothers and sisters in Christ. Equally unclean, desperately unclean, seeking out the merciful grace and love of the only source of cleansing that can ever cleanse a soul as broken, sinful, and unclean as me! I cannot come before that font or this railing with a mask of cleanliness, God knows my uncleanliness far too well for it to be hidden. 

It is not in setting ourselves apart from the unclean and calling it tradition or clean that we experience God. It is not in directing our own variation of cheap law accusingly at others in which we can purify ourselves and declare ourselves clean.

It is in bringing ourselves, our unclean selves to God, authentically, hopefully, and even at times desperately in our own pain that we experience God. It is there that we find Jesus the Christ, and it is in that moment that we experience a true faith. 

Amen

Sources

Darabont, Frank. The Walking Dead: Season 1. AMC and Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2011.