Peter Falk was an actor who spent his
career playing a wide range of roles in comedy and drama. Most notably, he
played an eccentric, rumpled but ever-triumphant detective in the hit television
show Columbo. In real life, Falk had
a glass eye, resulting from an operation to remove a cancerous tumor when he
was three years old. In spite of his missing eye, he was a high school athlete.
In one story he liked to tell, after being called out at third base during a
baseball game, he removed his eye and handed it to the umpire. “You’ll do better with this,” he said.[1]
I think we are all just a bit like Peter
Falk. We would all like to think we are the best umpires of our own lives, the
best judges of whether we are safe or out, clean or unclean, righteous or
unrighteous.
However, there is someone else, who in the
Gospels asserts his right to be the ultimate umpire. His name is Jesus. Let us
see what he has to say about being safe or being out, clean or unclean, from
Mark 7:14-23….
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen
to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by
going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
When he had left
the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He
said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that
whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not
the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all
foods clean.) And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For
it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come:
fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from
within, and they defile a person.”
Jesus makes two points here. The first point is: nothing outside a person by going in can
defile.
What sort of things were the Jews whom Jesus addressed
concerned about? What things coming from the outside and going into them did
they think would defile them?
Obviously, Jesus is talking about certain foods coming from
the outside because he mentions it entering the stomach. From the stomach, as
we know, food goes through the intestines and eventually out into the sewer.
Most people know that Jews are not allowed to eat pork.
However, there were many other foods they were not allowed to eat according to
Leviticus 11. Jews were not allowed to eat: camels,
rock badgers, hares,
pigs, shellfish, eagles, vultures, osprey, buzzards, kites, ravens, ostriches, nighthawks, sea gulls, hawks, owls, water hens, storks, herons, bats, winged insects that
walk upon all fours, weasels, mice, lizards, geckos, crocodiles, chameleons, snakes,
and the list goes on!
Now, in one fell swoop, Jesus tells his fellow Jews that
none of these things can defile them. William Barclay writes about this,
Although it may not seem so now, this
passage, when it was first spoken, was well-nigh the most revolutionary passage
in the New Testament…. He declares that nothing that goes into a man can
possibly defile him, for it is received only into his body which rids itself of
it in the normal, physical way.
No Jew ever believed that and no
orthodox Jew believes it yet.
There were Jews who had given up their lives because of
their unwillingness to disobey the kosher laws. Therefore, the Jews and the
Pharisees in particular must have wondered: how can Jesus be saying this? What
is his point?
N. T. Wright explains:
The purity laws, he’s suggesting, point
to the real need of humans for a deeper purity, a purity of motive. Eating
meat, from crocodile to kangaroo, from pig to porcupine, won’t affect that….
The scriptures spoke of purity, and set
up codes as signposts to it; Jesus was offering the reality. When you arrive at
the destination you don’t need the signposts any more, not because they were
worthless but precisely because they were correct.
In the passage we looked at last Sunday, we saw that the Pharisees
were all concerned about the fact that Jesus and his disciples were not
following the tradition of the elders regarding hand washing. Jesus called them
hypocrites because they cared more for human tradition than what was most
important, namely, a relationship with God.
Now Jesus attacks this Jewish religious practice of eating
only kosher food. Here, Jesus is not simply addressing a human tradition, but
something that was legislated in Scripture. By throwing out this tradition and
basically saying it is no longer important, Jesus was asserting his right to be
the final arbiter of what was important in Scripture and what was not, what was
binding and what was no longer so.
Now, you may be thinking: “This Scripture is all about
kosher foods. What does it have to do with me? After all, I eat pork and bacon
and shellfish.” Well, I think what Jesus says here also has a more general
application, and I think that application is this: Those who believe that things outside of them by going into them can
defile are living an “outside in” sort of lifestyle. Religion to them is all
about things on the surface.
Imagine a person who is told by their doctor that they are
dying of cancer but that they can be cured if they will receive a strenuous
course of chemotherapy and radiation. What would you think if that person went
for a makeover instead of getting the chemo and radiation treatment? You would
think they were crazy, would you not?
Yet, people who focus on the outside aspects of religion
without attending to the interior part of their lives are just like that person
dying of cancer. It is relatively easy to attend to externals in religion:
attending services, reading the Bible, following dietary laws, even going
through the motions of prayer. However, it is much harder to truly open our
hearts to God and allow him to cleanse us on the inside.
This leads to the second point Jesus makes in this passage.
He says that: the things that come out of a person are what defile that person.
What are these evil intentions that Jesus
talks about?
The first word that is used in the Greek
text is πορνεια. It comes from the root word πορνη—the word for
prostitute. Metaphorically used the word can refer to idolatry.
The next word is κλοπαι, which means “theft”. Judas was a κλεπτες because he stole from the disciples’ common fund. My
father was a κλεπτες. He had an
interesting way of quoting Ephesians 4:28. “Let him that stole steal, no more let him labor with his
hands.” It is very important where you put the comma in that sentence!
The third kind of evil Jesus mentions is φονοι, which is the
word for murders. Then there is μοιχειαι, which when translated means
“adulteries,” or marital unfaithfulness.
Πλεονεξιαι comes from two Greek words that mean “to have more”. Thus,
this word refers to greed.
Πονηριαι is
translated as “wickedness” and refers to the person who
is actively wicked, who desires to do harm. Satan is the evil one, the πονηρος.
Next comes δολος; it comes
from the word for bait. This word can be used of a mousetrap and refers to
capture by trickery or deceit. We probably all know the story of the time when
the Greeks were besieging Troy and could not gain access. The Greeks sent the
Trojans a present—a giant wooden horse. The Trojans opened their gates and took
the wooden horse into their city. However, Greek soldiers were inside the horse
and broke out during the night. By this means, the Greeks conquered Troy.
The next word in Jesus’ list is ασελγεια. The Greeks defined this word as meaning a disposition of
soul that resented all discipline. This refers to the sort of person who sins
without a qualm and never hesitates to shock his fellow human beings.
The next word, which in the New Revised
Standard Version is translated as envy, literally means an evil eye. This
applies to the person who looks at the success and happiness of another and not
only wants it for himself, but if he could, would cast a spell against the
person who does have it.
Βλασφημια sounds almost exactly like our English word, blasphemy. When
a person blasphemes another human being, he slanders him. When we blaspheme
God, we insult him by trying to take his place.
Then there is the closely related word: υπερηφανια, which means arrogance or pride. C. S. Lewis calls this
“the great sin”. This sin need never show itself. A man secretly may be
comparing himself to others but outwardly trying to act humble. To have pride
is to set oneself up as God; that is why pride has been called the chief of the
vices.
The last word in Jesus’ list is αφροσυνη. This word does not refer to foolishness due to weakness
or lack of intellect. It refers to moral folly. Thus, this word does not refer
to a brainless fool but to a person who chooses to be a fool.
Jesus’ list reminds me of C. S. Lewis’
description of his own soul the first time he gave himself to honest
self-examination:
For the first time I examined myself with
a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of
lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.
My name was legion.
Matthew Mitchell illustrates how evil
intentions come out of the heart….
I held up a bottle of water and then
poured the water out on the platform. Then I asked our church family, “Why is
there now water on the floor?” Everyone laughed nervously because the answer
was so obvious.
Then I asked, “But why is there water on
the floor and not Pepsi or Kool-Aid?” Now besides the fact that I would have
gotten into major trouble with the custodian if I had poured Pepsi or Kool-Aid
on the carpet, the truth is, there was water
on the floor because there had been water
in the bottle. Similarly, Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart the
mouth speaks.” What’s inside us determines what comes out of us.[2]
Now, here is a bit of good news, if only a bit. The person
who is concerned about what comes out of their heart is seeking to live their
life from the inside out. Though it is less than perfect, it is better to live
from the inside out, rather than the outside in.
Thus, Jesus’ horrible list raises a question: If what comes out of our heart is evil,
then what are we to do?
Jesus does not tell us what to do, at least not in this
place in Mark’s Gospel. However, it is interesting to me that Paul has a list
of evil deeds similar to that of Jesus. In Galatians 5:19-21 he writes,
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication,
impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels,
dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
You say, “Well how does that
help? Paul has reminded me of what Jesus has already said about the evil that
comes out of the heart.”
That is an honest response. It
reminds me of the story of the family who had
company for dinner. After dinner, they put all the food scraps in a big, black
trash bag. Forgotten on the back porch, the trash the following morning was
strewn across the deck and back yard. The family did not look forward to coming
home to pick it all up after church.
During the worship service, the children’s
sermon was about how it is important to try to keep God’s earth as good as it
used to be in the Garden of Eden. The pastor had a black plastic trash bag and
emptied it on the platform—coke cans, papers, and wrappers. He then asked the
children, “Now, what does that look like?”
A boy from the family with the trash bag
problem stood right up, hands on hips, and loudly said, “Well, it looks just like my house!”[3]
If we are honest, when we hear
Jesus talk about the evil that comes out of the heart, or when we hear Paul
talk about the works of the flesh, we will say, along with that little boy,
“Well, that looks just like my house! Jesus and Paul are describing my heart.”
That is the bad news. However,
the good news is that Paul also goes on to talk about what can get rid of this
evil. He says, beginning in verse 22…
By contrast, the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such
things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the
Spirit.
Therefore, if you want to get rid of the evil that issues
from the heart then you have to give yourself to Jesus and let him nail that
evil to the cross on which he died. Then he will also give you his Holy Spirit
to replace the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.
Lowe’s Hardware has a commercial that
shows a proud do-it-yourselfer installing a new ceiling fan in his family’s
living room. After he confidently gives the fan one last little turn, he climbs
off the aluminum ladder, and steps aside to turn on the switch. After he turns
it on, he stands with his hands on his hips, satisfied with his brilliant,
money-saving work. Within a second of the first rotation of the blades, the
central motor sparks and the entire fan crashes to the floor, crushing a small
table on its way down. The scene cuts away to the outside of the house, looking
at the clear bay window of the room where the man stands. It’s quiet and bright
outside. Suddenly, the ceiling fan comes flying through the picture window and
lands in the yard, disrupting the peaceful moment. The words flash on the
screen: “Need help?” An online version of the ad includes these words from
Lowe’s: “Installation can be tricky. Come to Lowe’s. We’ve got all the tips and
tools you need to get the job done right.”[4]
Removing the evil from our hearts and installing the fruit
of the Spirit can also be tricky. To do it right, we need more than our own
feeble human effort. We need the help of an expert. The only one I know capable
of rooting out evil from the human heart and replacing it with the fruit of the
Spirit is Jesus….
[1] Bruce Weber, “Peter Falk, Rumpled and Crafty Actor in Television’s
‘Columbo,’ Dies at 83,” The New York Times
(6-24-11), preachingtoday.com
[2] Matthew C. Mitchell, Resisting
Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue (CLC
Publications, 2013), pp. 39-40; Submitted by: Van Morris, Mt. Washington,
Kentucky, preachingtoday.com
[3] Russell Brownworth, Thomasville, North Carolina; source: WBFJ Radio,
call-in-show in Winston-Salem, NC (2-21-02)
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