The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Mark, the seventh chapter:
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
You have to remember that the Pharisees and their ways were well regarded in the time of Jesus. The way they did things were the way the Jewish people, for the most part, wanted to do things. Their way of living was to be highly imitated. Most people thought that the Tradition of the Elders, which was the name of the religious system of the Pharisees, was straight from the mouth of God.
The Tradition of the Elders was supposed to be an oral Law, kind of the extra instruction that God gave to the elders of Israel on Mount Sinai some 1500 years before Jesus. Or at least that’s what everyone thought. In reality, according to Jesus, this other testament of the Law was no more the Word of God than the closed caption systems on your favorite television show. What the Tradition of the Elders did do, however, is spur people on to do good works in their attempt to keep the Law. What it did badly was make people obedient to another law, not the Law from God, in order to be saved.
It would be like this: it’s coming up on football season, the most wonderful time of the year. Now, I can tell you, for sure, that you would be much better off cheering on the Green Bay Packers than the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, your sanctification levels will be so much better that way, since it’s likely you won’t have to walk around all depressed and mopey and angry like you would rooting for the Vikes. I could say that, and it might be true. But, what I cannot say is that you must root on the Packers this year in order to be saved. That’s essentially what the Tradition of the Elders did.
You see, this so-called tradition stood between God and men and made it impossible for God to have mercy on them because there was no mercy to be had for obeying this false Law. God has mercy on those who fear Him, who love His Law, who have been enlightened to faith in Christ Jesus who obeyed the Law and fulfilled it for you. God has mercy on you through His Son. But Jesus didn’t die for your sin of not rooting on the Packers. That’s because it’s not a sin.
You see what’s going on? Jesus has mercy on those whom He loves, and that’s you. And He was having mercy on His disciples, and they were enjoying a good time, and the Pharisees, who were well-regarded came in demanding that Jesus’ disciples obey their law. Now, perhaps it would be best sometimes to do such things, so as not to make enemies of people, or not to bear down on a burdened conscience. Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. He calls flaunting your freedom in Christ to do whatever it is that you want, even if it is not against the will of God, it may be perceived of as the freedom to enjoy any pleasure, he calls it sinning against the brother, the one who has a weak conscience. We should stop that.
When our actions would lead someone astray and cause them, because of their great weakness, to fall away from the one true faith, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, then we are sinning. However, that’s not what’s going on here in today’s reading. The Pharisees insisted in a tradition that would separate them from God, not one which would aid in their understanding or faith. That, as Jesus shows us, must be squashed immediately.
And here, we do the same. Sometimes our own opinions or experiences become for us a law unto ourselves. When someone, even in the Church, does something we do not like, don’t agree with, haven’t seen, haven’t done, often we think ourselves to be the sole arbiters of right and wrong. We set up laws that others have to obey, but they are laws that have nothing to do with the Word of God; they are only laws that seem to serve our own purposes.
For instance, with something kind of simple, and not that anyone is ever looking to do this, but if we decided someday to remove the beautiful wrought-iron cross from our Easter and Christmas celebrations, that may be done for good reason. But, someone may object, and object loudly, and tell others, complaining to everyone who can hear, how this cross is absolutely necessary to have, and may even make threats against any who would disagree with them.
They have created a law unto themselves. Nowhere in the Word of God or in our Confessions does it say that this thing must happen. The cross is beautiful. We all love having it in our service, and quite honestly, I can’t wait to see it again this Christmas, all decked out with the poinsettias. But, if it disappeared, it would make no difference to my faith or to yours. And it’s not wrong to want that cross in the service, or not want it in the service. It doesn’t matter either way, really. But, what is wrong is to assert that the tradition is more important than our relationship to God or to one another.
Jesus doesn’t have kind words to say about people who do such things; in fact, He’s quite sarcastic about it in today’s lesson. But, you see, the reason Jesus objects to putting these traditions, these man-made laws ahead of God’s Word, is because of what He has come to do. He came to set us free from the burden of the Law.
You see, we all know that the Law is good to instruct Christians as to what to do. Love God. Love your neighbor. Worship God in Spirit and in truth. Help your neighbor in all their life and doings. Receive God’s Word and Sacrament as regularly as you can. Defend your neighbor, speak well of her, and protect their property. Those are all good things to do; we should be doing them. But, the reality is, as we hear these good things we are supposed to do, we should also realize how little we do these things, or how imperfectly we do them even when they’re attempted.
That’s what the Law does, it always accuses you. The Law stands as a judgment between you and God’s holy standard of perfection and we’re found greatly wanting. None of us deserve the outcome of perfect obedience to the Law, which is eternal life, and none of us deserve God’s mercy.
But, again, this is what Jesus came to do, to set us free from the Law’s accusations. He doesn’t set us free so that we can live however we want with whatever attitudes we want. He expects us to demonstrate to one another, and to all our neighbors, the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These things are the full expression of a life lead by the Law because it has been freed in the Gospel.
But, Christ, in His mercy, still knows that we can’t do these things, we won’t do these things, at least not perfectly. How many of us always demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit? Certainly not me. But, I want to do better. We all know that we’ve done wrong. And so, Christ, in His mercy, from His cross, gives to you the benefit of His obedience. He transfers to you His righteousness, He declares you good and right and salutary, even though we know we’re not. And when He declares you righteous, His Father declares Him guilty of your sin. This is the great exchange; you get out of the line of fire and God pours down His mercy on you and His wrath on His Son. That’s everything we receive in the Word and Sacraments at God’s house.
You see, Jesus doesn’t want us setting up new laws for salvation, not when He’s already paid the full price of us breaking the Law of God. He has already given to us all that we need for eternal life, namely His Word and His Sacrament and that covers every aspect of our lives, even when we sin by making our own man-made laws that work to separate us from the love of God and our neighbors. That’s how we worship God with our lips, and how we also then have our hearts near Him. He draws us. He draws us by His Word so that we continue to worship Him rightly, loving Him which aids us to love our neighbors.
We must hold on to this in the Church. We must hold on to the right worship of God, and we must defend His doctrines, even to the death. That’s what Jesus says. Rejecting the commandment of God, which is to misuse His name, which is to take His name in vain, is tantamount to death. False doctrine kills, because it will send someone to hell. When we teach falsely, even as the Pharisees did, even as we are prone to do, we teach outside of the commandment of God, for we should only teach those things which God has revealed about Himself, especially those things He has revealed through His precious Son, Jesus Christ.
So, yes, while it would be best for you to root for the Packers, and yes, while it would be best for you to wash your hands before you eat, and yes, while it would be best that we continue to use our beautiful cross for Christmas and Easter, these are not laws that disobeying them will send you to Hell. They are good ideas, perhaps, but obeying these will not send you to heaven. They’re just ideas. And Jesus didn’t die for a good idea. He died for you. Jesus died to save you, and He rose to give you the promise of everlasting life. Perhaps the Packers will be there in the Resurrection; perhaps not. Either way, Jesus will be and you will be, too. That’s Jesus’ promise, the promise given to you through His Word and His Sacraments, the promise which comes through the commandment of God. Christ is faithful to us, so we teach, preach, believe, and confess in the name of Jesus and in the name of Jesus only. And in Him, we have all things, even the benefit of His obedience, His death, His resurrection, which bring us eternal life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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