Week of February 27

Using the Correct Spiritual Currency

Read: Numbers 21-23; Mark 6-7
 
“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him”
Mark 7:15, ESV

Introduction

Dallas Willard once said, “There is no avoiding the fact that we live at the mercy of our ideas. This is never truer than with our ideas about God” (Hearing God). The Jews held some curious notions about God that both prevented them from experiencing true union with Him and kept them from being a true light to the world. They managed the things of God, but they didn’t really know a thing about Him. Let’s learn a lesson from their errors today.

Understanding the Bible Context

A question of submission to the Heavenly Father
You may wonder how one could manage the things of God but fail to really know Him. Take a step or two back from chapter 7 and look again at the context. The Jews were concerned for the ritual purity of Christ’s disciples, or lack thereof (7:3). Mark has previously shown us that Jesus saw little use for scribal prohibitions of association with outcasts (2:15-17), requirements of fasting (2:18-22), and restrictions on Sabbath observance (2:23-3:6; NAC). Here in chapter 7, he presents three accounts that show Jesus’ rejection of the “scribal/oral interpretation of the law.” Bear with me a moment longer, and I will explain how this passage touches our lives.

The “tradition of the elders” was an oral, scribal interpretation of the written, Mosaic law (cf. the later written Mishna, ca. 220 AD). They questioned Jesus’ disciples, but the real target was the Lord Himself (7:9). The Pharisees and scribes held strong reputations among the people for being godly, but Jesus tells them that it all was a charade. Their inner lives did not reflect their outward profession! He points directly to the fact that they honored their traditions more than they did God’s word. There were occasions in my pastoral ministry where I realized that the opposition thrown my way was really aimed at the Lord. Jesus teaches us that outward observance is no replacement for inward piety (Isaiah 29:13; NAC).
A case study in respect for life
Jesus pointed, as an example, to the fact that these Pharisees and scribes did not honor their parents (Exodus 20:12). They had come up with a twisted scheme whereby they were able to refuse help to their parents. They claimed that that which would be of help to them was set aside as an offering to God (7:11-12; cf. “corban”). We have nothing really like this today but, thankfully, Jesus makes His meaning clear for us in what follows.

He speaks a parable about the true source of defilement, then had to explain it to His disciples (7:14-23). The heart of the passage is found in verse 15. Neither food, nor unwashed hands, nor even food that was not kosher defiled a person. Their defilement comes directly from their own hearts. He chides them for their lack of understanding. How on earth could they have spent all their time with Him and still not grasp this spiritual truth? The same holds true for us as well. He was showing that all food was clean and that all people could be clean too, from the inside out! They were living, as Dallas Willard might say, at the mercy of their own ideas about Him. In Ashlock speak, Jesus was “going all Acts 10 on them!” Let’s apply the passage to our lives, then I’ll put this passage into perspective.

Applying the Passage to Our Lives

I love the United Kingdom. It has a special place in my heart, having spent a number of years studying there. I have kept some of their currency in a wallet so that I will have money on hand whenever I might enter the country. We landed at London’s Heathrow airport for a modest layover while on a recent journey back home from a Baptist Center for Global Concerns partnership trip.

I longed for a cup of coffee, so I made my way to a coffee shop in the airport terminal. I placed my order and pulled out of my pocket several one-pound coins. The person at the cash register paused, gave me a strange look, and said, “Sir, do you know that these coins are no longer in circulation?” I asked when this had occurred and she replied, “Two years ago.” Cue my embarrassment! Here is my spiritual segue. Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes that they were seeking to spend traditions that were not in circulation in God’s economy! Are we spending a spiritual currency that is no longer in circulation too?

Where we fit into the big picture. First, scholars have demonstrated that the Gospel of Mark was drawn from the sermons of Peter, and the book was penned originally for a Gentile-Christian audience. The fact that verses 24-30 follow the section on that which is clean or unclean in Jewish religious practice was to preview the Gentile mission and the response of the Gentiles to the gospel as seen in the belief of the Syro-Phoenician woman (cf. also 7:31-37 and 8:1-10!). Mark 7 should speak deeply to our hearts. Jesus loves us with a whole heart! We, in turn, are to love humankind in the same way.

Secondly, Mark’s readers would have been reassured that they were accepted by God in Christ by this account. Note, however, that the early church wrestled mightily with the obvious movement of the Spirit that was contrary to their Jewish tradition (cf. Acts 10:9-16; 11:5-10; Romans 14:13ff; EBC). Sadly, we sometimes add unnecessary burdens to people coming to Christ too. Recall prior American and European missionary practices of requiring converts to worship with Western traditional songs and dress. Any religious tradition is invalid that fails to cause a person to look inward to his or her need for mercy, or that hinders the access of all to hear and receive the Good News.

Reflecting Upon and Discussing the Passage

1. Ask God to point out traditions that are obstructing your view of the darkness that is within your own heart. Invite the light of Christ’s truth to melt away anything that hinders your holiness.

2. What traditions are causing your church to hinder (“roped off”) full and free access to the gospel? Ask God to call your community of believers to take down the ropes.

3. For Families: Make a game for your children to teach them this passage’s truth about where evil intentions actually originate. Write on 3x5 cards cards five negative scenarios that you can imagine children might see in their days at school or home (one child calling another child a bad name, or a parent yelling at a coach at a ballgame, or a bully picking on a friend in the schoolyard at recess, etc.).

Then write five more positive scenarios on another stack of 3x5 cards (a teacher who encourages a student who cannot read, a father who rescues a cat from a tree, a Sunday School teacher who is kind and loving, a big sister who reads to a little brother before bed, etc.).
To play this game, ask your children where the action begins . . . (and make the prompts silly and fun). Does the idea to do good or bad come from the wind? From a plant? From a toad, or a fish in a bowl, or from their spaghetti noodles? No! The actions all begin in the heart of the one who does the deed. They can look inside their own hearts, too, and see where their good and bad actions begin. This passage tells us to love Jesus, and that He will help us have pure hearts. Pure hearts inside of Gospel Kids can do good things for Him!

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock