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THE PARABLE OF THE HUMAN HEART
(Matthew 15:10-20; Mark 7:14-23) 10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” SIN COMES FROM WITHIN, NOT FROM WITHOUT Much of the Law of Moses, for example Leviticus chapter 11, was concerned with “clean” and “unclean” food. Jesus gave a short parable, or parabolic saying, about the things that make a person unclean in God’s sight. It was revolutionary in its implications: “What goes into a man’s mouth [food and drink] does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth [words and attitudes], that is what makes him ‘unclean’” (verse 11). Jesus further clarified the parable: “The things that come from the heart [personality and character] make a man ‘unclean’” (verse 18).
This parable directly answered the Pharisees’ question, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t [ritually] wash their hands before they eat!” (Verse 2) Their “tradition” consisted of man-made rules and emphasized externals. It substituted empty ceremony like hand-washing for inward holiness. It was regarded by Israel as a supplement to Scripture and an interpreter of it. However, Jesus rejected completely their tradition. The parable makes two points. First, what we eat does not make us unclean (morally and spiritually) as it soon passes out from the body. No food defiles a person’s spirit or mind. We are therefore free to eat whatever we like as it cannot make us spiritually unclean. Second, any uncleanness comes from inside the heart of a person where all kinds of evil can exist. Jesus taught that corruption or uncleanness comes from a person’s sinful nature, and not from what they touch or eat. It is one’s actions and attitudes that defile.
A REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLE TO ORTHODOX JEWS (Verse 11)
This passage is one of the most revolutionary parts of the New Testament. Mark’s comment in 7:19, “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean”
[1]
, confirmed that Jesus had abolished all the Old Testament distinctions between clean and unclean foods, utensils, and people. It signalled that Jesus fulfilled a large section of the Law. During his ministry Jesus frequently mixed with Gentiles who did not keep the Old Testament food laws. He showed that God’s grace was given to the Gentiles, or all non-Jewish cultures, as freely as to the Jews. Later, Peter understood more fully that Jesus had declared all foods “clean”: “Do not call anything [food] impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15); and “God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28). . Paul understood that what mattered was not what a person ate, or didn’t eat, but spiritual realities: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. All [edible] food is clean.” (Romans 14:17, 20) [2] This radical statement of Jesus freed Christianity from the bondage of Jewish legalism. Although there was considerable cultural tension between Jew and Gentile within the early Church, the Church slowly set aside the Mosaic food laws that were part of the barrier between Jew and Gentile (Galatians 2:12). Eventually the Church became multi-cultural and international in character.
Jesus’ sharp words to the proud Pharisees were uncompromising and “offended” them. “Every plant” probably refers to the Pharisees themselves rather than their false teaching (Isaiah 60:21). God had not “planted” or established the Pharisees. Jesus pronounced a severe judgment when he said they “will be pulled up by the roots” i.e. destroyed. It is a similar image to the parable of the weeds in the field (13:30, 41). Jesus said their blindness was self-chosen: “They have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:15). They were guilty of not wanting to see. They were blind to the truth about Jesus because they had lost the ability to consider that they might be wrong. They were blinded by the sin of pride. If the Pharisees as “blind guides” led a spiritually blind nation, “both will fall into a pit”, i.e. disaster. Jesus said to his disciples, “Leave them” or “Ignore them” because they had a closed mind. Unconscious of their blindness, they boasted that they could see i.e. had knowledge. However, Jesus rebuked their pretentious claim to spiritual insight: “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (John 9:39).
THE HEART IS THE HEART OF THE MATTER
In contrast to the blindness of the Pharisees, the disciples were “dull” or “lacking in understanding” (NASB) and requested an explanation of the parable. Jesus explained that the true source of all pollution was the “heart” or corrupt human nature. In the bible the heart is the centre of human personality that decides a person’s attitudes and actions. It is “the wellspring of life” or totality of a person’s intellect, will and emotions, and should be carefully “guarded” (Proverbs 4:23). Sin comes from within. A person is defiled by the actions that come from his own heart. God is more concerned with our heart attitudes than with any religious rituals. Sin is a moral problem rather than a matter of ceremonial uncleanness. It was not a matter of ritually unwashed hands, as the Pharisees thought, but a matter of the human heart. A person does not become a sinner by committing murder, adultery or theft. He does these things because he is a sinner. Outward sins like murder are only reflections of inward sin, and the sins of the spirit like envy and pride, are equally evil in God’s sight. Sin is like a cancer, growing within us. We need the radical spiritual surgery of salvation in Christ that will change our inner nature.
LET US NOT SUBSTITUTE RELIGIOUS RITUAL FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS Jesus focussed on the need for inner cleansing rather than external rituals. The blight of some “Christianity” is the replacement of righteousness by ritualism. Ritual and tradition usually begin with a desire to honour God, but they may soon become ends in themselves. God requires spiritual reality, not empty ritual. Ceremony by itself will never cleanse us from the envy, greed and immorality that rise within us. Christianity requires an outward righteousness based on an inward righteousness that has been in-worked by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:12-13). A LIST OF AWFUL SINS Matthew lists only seven vices to Mark’s thirteen: “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” [3] (Mark 7:21-22) Jesus made no distinction between sins of thought and sins of action. Jesus mentions “evil thoughts” or “wicked schemes” first, as thought precedes action. The Greek “porneia” c.f. English ‘pornography’ translated “sexual immorality” means every kind of “sexual vice”, including prostitution and incest. “Adultery” describes unfaithfulness in marriage. “Pleonexiai” or “ruthless greed” or “covetousness” is the greedy longing to have more as well as the desire to possess what a person has no right to desire. “Malice” or “wanton wickedness” or “meanness” is an evil disposition of mind and intentional evil. It describes the person who loves to harm others. “Deceit” has the meaning of cunning for personal advantage. It is translated “guile” or “fraud” or “deceitful trickery”. The Greek word was used of a mousetrap. The Trojan horse was clever treachery. The Greek “aselgeia” translated “lewdness” is an ugly word; it refers to open immorality and an unrestrained conduct that has no shame. This person has an insolent defiance of public opinion and sins openly with contempt. It is translated “sensuality” or “indecency” or “shameless immorality”. “Envy” or “jealousy” is a begrudging attitude towards the possessions of others. “Slander” or “malicious misrepresentation” or “insults” refers to verbal abuse and speaking evil of people. It is the murder of character. The Greek word for “arrogance” or “pride” or “haughtiness” means thinking we are more important than we are. It is the attitude of superiority that looks down on others with contempt. “Folly” or “foolishness” describes the person who lacks moral judgment and moral sensitivity. It is moral folly, not a lack of intellect; it is the attitude that makes a joke out of sin. Some translations have “thoughtlessness” or “recklessness”. Mark does not mention Matthew’s “false witness” or “false testimony”. BEWARE OF NEGATIVE LEGALISM
Religious people, like the Pharisees, always face the danger of focussing too much on externals. It is easy for believers to focus on outward things that are minor issues and major on them. Some believers have questioned the spirituality of others on the basis of a form of church government, a style of worship, a programme of social action, or a system of theology. Some Christians have also adopted an unofficial code of behaviour which demands things like church attendance or compulsory tithing, or a dress code that determines who is “in” and who is “out” of their select circle. It is dangerous when one group of people, like the Pharisees, sees itself as setting the standard by which other believers should be judged. Their self-righteous code of practice offered a false sense of importance and security but it was the opposite of a living daily walk with the Son of God.
FOR RELECTION
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you understand my heart better than I do myself. I bring to you any areas of darkness in my heart and ask the Holy Spirit to give me cleansing and healing in depth. Amen.
Jim Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Education. |
