What Comes Out

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Amid a spike in Covid and other illnesses as end-of-summer travel bugs collide with back-to-school germs, its hard not to be on the side of the Pharisees when they ask why Jesus’s disciples are eating with unwashed hands. So I want to be very clear- Jesus is not condemning hand hygiene. The people living under the Ancient Roman Empire did not have germ theory, although their architecture tells us they did see a correlation between more frequent bathing and fewer plagues. Especially given what we know about Jesus’s special attention to the sick and the disabled during his earthly ministry, it is safe to say that Jesus is in favor of reducing the risk of infections and transmission of illness wherever we can. It is also safe to assume that, in general, Jesus followed the same traditions of ritual washing, daily prayer, and kosher meal preparation as his Jewish followers. Jesus was a faithful Jew, and a Pharisee himself as someone who preached the resurrection of the dead. So when he breaks, bends, or disregards certain traditions and customs, it is intentional, and we must pay attention. Jesus is a teacher, and every interaction with him is a lesson.

Before we jump to our usual posture of condemning the Pharisees as rule-obsessed prejudice-driven enemies, let’s listen closely to their question. “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders?” It’s a valid question and may not have been asked with any ill intent. They share a common religion, language, and ancestry with Jesus and most of his followers, all of which have been painstakingly maintained through generations of oppression, cultural assimilation, and occupation. The descendants of Abraham have literally risked death at the hands of their oppressors to continue the religious practices that form much of their cultural identity. When a teacher comes around who is sometimes disregarding these practices and allowing his followers to do the same, the Pharisees and scribes have questions. Their history and their culture matter to them, and they want to know if Jesus intends to honor both.

In this light, Jesus’s response can read a bit harsh. He calls them hypocrites, quoting the prophet Isaiah at them, when all they asked was why his followers are not washing their hands. But it is not this particular question to which Jesus is responding. “This people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me…You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” The teaching is for everyone, not just the person who asked the question. The people of God may be honoring God with their lips, but their hearts aren’t in it. The people of God are choosing to honor human traditions without first following the commandment of God. The people of God are doing things the way they’ve always done them, without seeing how somewhere along the way they have strayed from the path of justice, mercy, and lovingkindness laid before them by God.

As if to reiterate that he is still a teacher and everywhere he goes is a classroom, Jesus calls the rest of the crowd closer so that they can get the message too. There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. Its a little graphic, but I think we can get the picture. Rather than being preoccupied with what goes into us- whether that be something we eat or drink, media we consume, or rules we ingest and form identities around- Jesus encourages all who hear him to consider the outcomes. We might also think of intention versus impact, or knowing a plant by its fruits. The things we put out into the world, the thoughts and emotions and prejudices we act on, have the potential to harm us and those around us. It doesn’t matter how carefully we memorize the rules and follow them to the letter- if we use those same rules to cause harm to others, we have defiled ourselves as well.

There have been infinite examples of this throughout Christian history. We can see the conflicts rage amongst the earliest leaders of the Church in the Acts of the Apostles about what rules must be followed to consider oneself a Christian. We can think back to the conflicts that led to the division of the Eastern and Western Churches, or the Protestant Reformation. We can look at our own history as a denomination, the various schisms and splinters that happened when someone dared suggest Native Americans and African Americans and LGBTQ Christians were people who deserved full access to the sacramental life, leadership, and fellowship of the Church, or when women started speaking up about what God was doing in their hearts, or any of the times we’ve made changes to the prayerbook since 1549. In every case, someone asked why we would not live according to the tradition of the elders, why we would not continue to do things the way we have always done them. Ultimately, in every case, it was the fruit that mattered. Whether harm was caused, or healing; rejection or reconciliation; vain worship, or hearts that honor God.

This week, someone shared with me on Instagram a quote that said something like “a grandmother who stays up late praying for her family and her neighbors has an infinitely deeper understanding of faith than any well-read traditionalist who has the “correct” theology.” As you might expect, the power of a grandmother’s prayer has been on my mind lately, so it stuck with me. I can’t help but think it bears a strikingly similar sentiment to today’s lesson from Jesus. Of course, good theology matters, because bad theology can and has led to death and immense suffering. But the fruits of our theology, what comes out of us, is what tells us whether our theology is good or bad, vain or righteous. The fruits of our Bible study, our worship, our rule-following and reading are what Jesus is concerned with. Do our prayers lead us to love deeper, give more generously, hold others more carefully? Or do our prayers simply confirm our own biases? Do our prayers lead us to accept the status quo even when it harms our neighbors? Do our prayers keep walls between us and those not like us? It matters how we act, because what we do reflects what we really believe about God, about ourselves, and about everyone and everything God has made.

 You don’t need a master’s degree in theology or the exact right prayer practice or to have all the responses in the prayerbook memorized to have a fruitful faith. God hears the prayers of a woman in her 80s with a high school education and a 40 year lapse in churchgoing just as well as God hears the prayers of a famous televangelist or a president or a parish priest. If our hearts are close to God, our lives will show it. If we follow the commandments of God, our lives will bear the marks. If we live out a life of dishonesty, violence, betrayal, pride, envy- our lives will show that too. We can be a people who honors God with our lips while our hearts are far from God, or we can listen to Jesus and understand. Tradition only matters insofar as it bears good fruit in us. Our worship is in vain if it does not bring out mercy, justice, and kindness in us. Pay attention to what comes out of your faith. And seriously, don’t forget to wash your hands.