Are You Staying on Course?

Jesus regularly found acceptance among the poor, the needy, the sick, the demon-possessed, the tax collectors and “sinners,” and with all these kinds of people among the Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as the Jews. But Jesus often offended the religious leaders. So much so that early on in the gospel story, the religious leaders began to plot against Jesus, to kill him (Mark 3:6). What was their problem?

In Mark 6:56 we read that many people responded to Jesus with a great amount of enthusiasm

“And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

But in Mark 7:1-5 Jesus was approached by Scribes and Pharisees who were all the way from Jerusalem.

“Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 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.) 5 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?”

“We often drift from the pure Word of God when we overreact against the influences of the world around us.”

The Pharisees observed special traditions called here the “traditions of the elders” (Mark 7:3, 5) handed down from the Hasidim, a movement that started 200 years before Jesus, characterized by religious piety, learning, and strict adherence to the Law of Moses. They were reacting against the Greek pagan influences that were reshaping Judaism in those days. So, they had built a “fence” of rules and traditions around the Word of God in order to protect the Word of God from impurity.

We often drift from the pure Word of God when we overreact against the influences of the world around us. The Pharisees’ rules had become so difficult to follow and their interpretations so difficult to understand that it created a social and religious gap between these religious elite who called themselves ‘the righteous,’ and the general population whom they called ‘the sinners.’” They wouldn’t even eat without their ritual washings (Mark 7:3, 4) after having been in the Market place because that’s where all the “common people” were who they would inevitably be touched by.

Notice the contrast in Jesus! In Mark 6:55-56 Jesus was in the marketplaces – a place considered extremely unclean for the Pharisees. Jesus was healing people letting them touch him and they were healed. What love! What compassion!

This is why the Pharisees were so critical of Jesus and his disciples. Their criticism of the disciples was an indirect insult to Jesus – calling him a “sinner” unworthy to be regarded as a true teacher. Jesus was ruled by love and compassion, but the Pharisees were ruled by fear and self-righteous hatred. That’s what happens when you start building walls of rules trying to protect the word of God.

“If we imagine that God’s Word is like our rhumb line for life, the goal is to keep ourselves aligned on that line, not veering above or below that line.”

In our training we call it going above the line! When a sailor plans a trip, the first step in charting the course is to plot a line from the present position to the desired destination. In the old days a line was drawn with a pencil on a paper chart from point A to point B. Today navigation apps plot a line across a zoomable digital chart. Either way, the line is called your “rhumb line.” It is the sailor’s goal to pilot the boat along that line, not veering away to one side or the other.

It is the same when navigating the Bible. If we imagine that God’s Word is like our rhumb line for life, the goal is to keep ourselves aligned on that line, not veering above or below that line. Deuteronomy 4:2 says “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” This is calling the reader to stay on the line of God’s word. Adding to God’s word can be likened to “going above the line.” Subtracting from God’s word can be likened to “going below the line.” The Pharisees had added many rules and regulations to God’s word according to their traditions. They had gone way above the line!

“The Pharisees tried to scrub the uncleanness of others off of them. But Jesus entered boldly into unclean people’s world unafraid and extended purity to them. Which describes you?”

What was the result? Self-righteousness and disdain for anyone who did not live up the level of the standards of their traditions, including Jesus! The Pharisees tried to scrub the uncleanness of others off of them. But Jesus entered boldly into unclean people’s world unafraid and extended purity to them. Which describes you?

How does Jesus respond to the Pharisees? He quotes from the prophet Isaiah, which the religious leaders would have known. Isaiah 29:13 says “And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,’”

Isaiah 29 is about God’s judgment directed toward the religious and royal leadership in ancient Jerusalem over 700 years before Jesus. These ancestors of the Pharisees had rejected the prophet’s message (Isaiah 28:14). They thought they were wise but Isaiah the prophet calls them “obstinate children” (Isaiah 30:1) relying on their own clever strategies.

“Jesus always stayed on the line of the word of God because he was the Word of God!”

So when the Pharisees & scribes critiqued the disciples as impure, Jesus with prophetic sharpness exposed their “farness” of heart with the very words he himself had inspired the Prophet Isaiah to declare in judgment against the corrupt religious leaders of Isaiah’s day (Isaiah 29:13).

You see, Jesus always stayed on the line of the word of God because he was the Word of God! Jesus defines the line! And then Jesus turns the critique back on them and exposes their tradition for what it really is. To do this Jesus challenges their motivations behind one of their traditions. They were actually using their traditions to get out of obeying the 5th Commandment to “Honor your father and Mother.” (Mark 7:9-13)

So wretched was this tradition that Jesus reminds them Moses actually condemns them with the punishment of death (Mark 7:10)! Jesus need not condemn them, Moses already has! This shows us an important truth: Every addition you make to God’s word will eventually replace God’s word! We must stay on the line of Scripture.

Look at what happened when the Scribes and Pharisees went above the line: It turned into the idolatry of legalism. Yes, adding rules and regulations and expectations to Gods’ word that aren’t actually there in the text is a form of idolatry. It is idolatry because it always leads us away from trusting in God for acceptance with God, to trusting in our own obedience to our own rules to be accepted by God. Whenever we depend on something other than God for acceptance with God, that is idolatry!

This opened the door in their lives to an especially evil hypocrisy: hating those God loves and making void God’s word for selfish gain at the expense of caring for those in need (vv. 5-13). Such behavior is always a sign of fear.

So, in both the case of their attitude toward the people in the market place and their treatment of their parents, the Pharisees and Scribes meticulously observed human regulations but hard-heartedly ignored God’s word of love for the welfare of people.

Next, Jesus, takes the opportunity to teach “everyone” saying “Hear me, all of you.” This is not just for Pharisees, it’s for everyone who can hear the voice of Jesus. Do you hear the voice of Jesus in this passage?

Jesus goes on to teach in Mark 7:14-23 that it isn’t what you do outwardly that defiles you, but what comes from the heart. What really defiles you is already inside of you. Jesus explained privately to the disciples in Mark 7:20-23 it is what is naturally occurring in everybody’s heart that makes us unclean:

“And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

This is where Jesus and his gospel message (the true line) stands alone. All other religious systems stand opposite to Jesus and his gospel. It is not just what you do that makes you unclean, so it is never what you do that makes you clean. Evil comes from your heart. So, Jesus says, you need a new heart! All other religious systems teach that you must do things, outward rituals, prayers, washings, chants, pilgrimages, or special fasts in order to be right with God. But Jesus in complete opposition to all of this says: “No. Your heart is what is evil and none of these outside gimmicks can fix it or clean it.”

So, we desperately need God in his grace to clean our hearts. We are also desperately in need of God’s grace to stay on the line of God’s word. Since the heart (the whole inner person) is what needs changing and transformation, then we need God to do it. We simply cannot do this ourselves.

How do we receive this grace to become clean from the inside out and to stay on the line? Jesus became as one who is unclean – being sacrificed on a Roman cross (the ultimate punishment of someone who is guilty and unclean) taking the wrath of God against our sins upon himself so that we could be declared righteous – clean in the heart. Jesus’ blood was spilled for our unclean hearts. And when we believe that the spilling of his blood was sufficient to pay for our sins, that blood becomes our cleanness. Jesus’ disciple John wrote (1 John 1:8-9):

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

It isn’t what goes into our bodies that makes us unclean. What is unclean is already inside us (our hearts). So what makes us clean is not from inside of us – but from outside, from God, from Jesus. If you have not confessed your sins then I implore you to consider that no religious act from a tradition can cleanse you. Your heart is not cleansed by living by a set of rules! Instead receive cleansing from your sin by the grace of God through faith in the blood of Jesus.

And if you have confessed faith in Christ and follow him, then continue to trust in the same grace of God for your life every day – not in your rules and regulations. Since staying on the line of the gospel can feel like such a fine line, maybe even a tight-rope walk at times because of our residual sinfulness, we not only need God’s grace of salvation, but we need God’s grace on a daily basis to stay on the line of Scripture. May God always remind us by his grace to preach the gospel to ourselves and to others and be transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit through God’s word and God’s word alone. In other words, may we stay on the line of the gospel message in the word of God by the grace and power of God!