I just finished weeding the garden and now, it is time to prepare dinner. What’s the first thing that I need to do? Yes, wash my hands. For most of us, this is an automatic response to having dirt on our hands. We wouldn’t think about preparing or eating food without first making sure that our hands are clean. But we have done exactly that! And lived to tell the tale, usually, hopefully, without ill effect to our bodies. However, have we offended God by doing so?

A few weeks ago, the gospel reading from Mark 7: 1-23 mentions this exact situation. The Pharisees notice that some of Jesus’ disciples were “eating with defiled hands.” The dietary restrictions and rules found in Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14 are quite specific, restrictive and hard to uphold without a lot of attention to detail. Along with a thorough, ritualistic washing of the hands, Jews were instructed to wash items obtained at the market place, had special procedures for dishes and cooking pots, and, of course, they were prohibited from eating certain kinds of food.

I had always thought, in my limited knowledge of these chapters, that many of these requirements were in place for the health and safety of the people. This practice was quite ahead of its time providing the people with good hygiene habits. However, these practices were very much in the forefront of Jewish devotional practices, as well. To ignore these rules meant more than the possibility of a food borne illness, it was a big offense against God.

This chapter of Mark brings Jesus’ reaction to the Pharisees’ complaints to our attention. He quotes from Isaiah and lashes out at them, calling them hypocrites who honor God with their lips but not their hearts. He is very angry at them. He tells them that they are fulfilling the prophesy made by Isaiah all those years ago. These people have abandoned the commandment of God in favor of the tradition of man.

Wow! All these many years, the Jewish people have followed the instructions regarding the dietary rules. Now, this Jesus tells them there is something more important that the traditions developed by their leaders. Jesus tells them that “there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but things that come out are what defile.” It is from the human heart that evil intentions come. He lists twelve major evils that come from within among them: murder, theft, fornication, envy, pride. To see the full list, read Mark 7: 21-22.

What a powerful lesson this reading is for me, for you, for the whole world. This is not to say that following traditions is wrong, but blindly following traditions without regard for what is coming from our hearts is. Clean hearts are not the result of keeping our hands clean. Clean hearts result from surrender to the will of a loving God who wants only the best for all His children. The children whom He loves unconditionally.

Originally posted by Terri in September 2018