What Defiles Us
Text: Mark 7:1-23
Core Idea: Jesus teaches us that what defiles us is not outside of us – it’s inside us; it’s the sin-saturated, sin-stained heart. And the only way to get a clean heart is through Jesus Christ, who offers His heart to us on the cross. Then let us receive with humility, with joy, and live to tell others about this wonderful news.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It is good to be with you on this beautiful day. We’ve been going through the Gospel of Mark and examining the life of Jesus. Last week, we learned that Jesus will at times send us into a storm because He loves us. He will use it to expose our weakness and reveal who He is – reminding us once again that He alone is worthy of our trust. But the climax of this story came when Jesus got in the boat – reminding us that He doesn’t leave us to weather through the storm on our own; He promises that He will be in the boat with us.
Now, there seems to be a shift in Jesus’ ministry when we come to chapter 7. So far, Jesus, for the most part, has been ministering in the Galilee region. But after the passage we’re about to read, He will minister a lot more in the gentile regions, then move southward to Jerusalem. And very soon, Mark will concentrate his whole narrative on Jesus’ final week on earth starting in chapter 11 – dedicating a third of his account to this. Why? Because this really is at the heart of what the gospel is all about. Then with that in mind, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 7:1-23. Let me read this for us.
1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 7 They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9 And He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) – 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” 14 Again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16] 17 After He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples asked Him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” He asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Mark tells us in verse 1 that a group of religious leaders came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. Now, this wasn’t the first interaction between them – in chapter 3, they accused Jesus of doing the work of Satan by the power of Satan. You see, they weren’t casual inquirers, open-minded truth seekers, and definitely not friends of Jesus. Mark 3:6 actually says, “The Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” This shows that they had already made up their minds on what they wanted to do with Jesus – they were determined to take Him down, looking for anything they can to discredit Him. And His disciples provided the perfect opportunity: they ate with defiled, unclean, unwashed hands. Now, this was more than just a hygiene issue; this was a matter of ritual cleansing according to the tradition of the elders – a way to keep yourself ceremonially clean. Now, because Mark was writing this most likely for Roman gentiles, he must have felt like it was necessary to give them more context which we find in verse 3. This is what he says, “The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash.” And notice that this is exactly what the disciples didn’t do – they were at the marketplace, according to Mark 6:56, ministering to all the sick, but didn’t bother to wash their hands.
Now, there are many laws outlined in the book of Leviticus that are very detailed with all these scenarios of what makes someone clean or unclean. For example, if you touched a dead animal or human being, if you had an infectious skin disease, if you had any kind of bodily discharge, or if you ate meat from an animal that was considered unclean, you were now considered ritually impure, defiled, stained, and unclean. And if you became unclean, you had to go through all these cleansing rituals that required you to wash your body, wash your clothes, or sometimes even shave your whole body. For them, this was a serious matter because your purity was connected directly to your relationship with God and your fellowship with others. You see, when you were considered unclean, you couldn’t enter the Temple, which meant that you couldn’t worship God – and you had to be removed from the rest of the community (sometimes for a day or at times weeks) because you could make others unclean. You could understand why they were so determined to stay clean.
Now, what’s important to note is that what these religious leaders were upset about wasn’t actually commanded by God. There was no law that required ordinary people to go through a hand-cleansing ritual before they ate their meals, but what God did command was for the priests to wash their hands before they entered the Temple to offer sacrifices. But what happened was that over time, the teachers of the law, who were overly zealous, had everyone wash their hands as a way to keep themselves clean. And these traditions were so engraved in them that “to be Jewish,” “to be God-fearers” meant that you had to obey all these traditions. In other words, disobeying these traditions was taken as a challenge to what it meant to be a Jew. So, it really is an understatement to say that these religious leaders and even the disciples were shocked when Jesus redefined how one becomes defiled – their worlds were turned upside down.
One more thing before we move on: traditions are not bad. In fact, they’re good and helpful. For example, what if I said, “We’re not going to meet on Sunday at 2 PM anymore – it’ll change week by week. It could be on a weekday morning or a weekend afternoon. You just need to wait for my email to find out.” That will create huge chaos. You see, traditions create familiarity, predictability, routine that enables us to have a structure to life. The problem here was that these traditions were treated on par with the Word of God. Then with that in mind, three things from this passage:
THE ACCUSATION
THE RESPONSE
THE SOLUTION
1) THE ACCUSATION
Let’s look at verse 5, “So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’” In asking this, they were really saying, “Jesus, you’re promoting uncleanliness and you don’t even care, which means that you don’t care about the holiness of God.” They must have thought that they had Jesus cornered. But Jesus exposed them rather quickly by saying this in verse 8, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” You see, these religious leaders created rules and regulations to make sense of and apply the truth more practically in their lives (which is helpful) but in their zeal made their words more important than what God had actually said. What started with good intentions led to complete disaster – they thought they were fencing the law to prevent people from violating the law, but they were blinded from seeing that these traditions were actually causing people to break the law.
As an example, Jesus talked about Corban in verse 11. The word “Corban” means an offering, vow, or a dedicated gift – a tradition that was developed as a means of giving to God. But it was now being misused to blatantly disobey the law. This is how that happened: let’s say you declared your property as Corban which meant that when you died, this piece of land would go into the possession of the Temple. But in the meantime, it would be considered sacred and off-limits to everyone else except you could still benefit from the land. So, if your aging parents came to you for help, you now have a way to say, “No,” without looking irresponsible or uncaring – “Sorry dad, mom. I would love to help but everything I have is dedicated to the Lord (and I can never break my vow with God!). I really want to help out, but I can’t do much here.” And as a result, they directly disobeyed the fifth commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” You see, their traditions enabled them to live for themselves instead of living for God and the good of others.
Now, this could feel far removed from us – we don’t have traditions like ritual washing or Corban today. But we too can certainly add to Scripture by taking our interpretations and binding them on others as if it’s the only way to understand a particular issue. For example, can we drink alcohol or not? Christian private school or is public school okay? Christian music only or can we listen to non-Christian music as well? The way you discipline your children. Mask or no mask? Or how about the way we dress for worship, the types of songs we sing, how long we spend reading the Bible and praying, having family worship or not, serving at church or not, and so on? These are important issues that we should wrestle through – and we should ultimately want everything we do to be an expression of honor, service, love, and worship to God. But whatever your thoughts are on these issues, we must remember that they’re not the law (unless it’s clearly stated) – and we should be very careful not to judge others who have made a different application than you as long as that application is within the boundaries of the truth. Now, this is not to say we can never share our thoughts with others – in fact, we should so that we may grow and be challenged by one another. But we should do this with love and gentleness. All this to say, we must not make our traditions, our wisdom as commandments for others.
Now, Jesus called these religious leaders hypocrites in verse 6. A hypocrite is a word drawn from the world of acting. And by using this, Jesus was telling the religious leaders that they were pretending to be someone they were not. How? They were pretending to be very devoted to God. Outwardly, they looked like they were serious about drawing near to God, but their hearts were actually very far from God, which is why Jesus said, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain.” Think about that last statement. We worship in vain regardless of how devoted we may appear on the outside if we are without the heart – it’s meaningless, worthless; it’s a waste.
Friends, hear this very carefully: when we elevate our thoughts, words more than the actual Word of God in our lives, we will gravitate toward making our faith purely about external observance without spiritual affection. Why? Because it’s easier to manage faith based on external observance. You don’t have to guard your heart – “just give me a list of things I should do, and I shouldn’t do, places I can’t go, things I can’t watch or listen to, and I’ll manage.” Do you see how scary this is? We make salvation into something we can manage and earn, not something to be received as a gift – we begin to think that what we do keeps us clean, not what Christ has done for us. Brothers and sisters, has your faith become nothing but a tradition that you keep? You come to church because that’s what you’ve been doing on Sundays all your life. Are you more concerned with your external correctness than the attitude of your heart? Are you using your knowledge, your tradition as a weapon against others, as a way to feel superior to others? Do you simply fit well to the tradition of this church, or have you fully, truly surrendered to God? If you feel like your faith has become purely about external observance, I want to gently but urgently invite you to repent. And I say this not to crush you with guilt but rather to liberate you because I know that this kind of faith is always burdensome – you’ll never be filled with joy and security; you’ll actually be more anxious, worried because you’ll never know if you’re truly living up to what’s required. You’ll always feel defiled, unworthy. Come to Jesus – lay your burdens down at Him. He wants to liberate you. Ask for forgiveness and hear His words, which leads to our next point.
2) THE RESPONSE
Let’s turn to verse 6 and notice two things. First, Jesus used the Scripture to respond to them. Do you see that? He quoted Isaiah 29. When the religious leaders were elevating man-made traditions, Jesus went back to the Word. Why? Because the Bible had the highest authority in His life – He based all His thoughts, actions, and even emotions on the Bible. Let me show you. Whenever Jesus was confronted with the religious leaders like in our passage or Satan tempting Him in the wilderness, His response almost always included these words: “It is written” – and that settled everything because to Him, there was no higher authority on the matters of life. Another example, in Gethsemane, the soldiers arrived to arrest Him, which prompted Peter to pull out his sword and cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Now, even in that chaotic scene, listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 26:52-54, “Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” No matter what situation He was in, He did everything according to the Scripture. And of course, even on the cross, as He was experiencing excruciating pain, demeaning humiliation, agonizing abandonment, as He was about to face the fullness of God’s wrath, He quoted the Bible – specifically, Hosea 10:8; Psalm 22:1, and 31:5. This is very important to see because generally the real depths of your heart are revealed in times like this – whatever comes out is whatever is in you. But listen to what Pastor Tim Keller said, “When Jesus Christ is at the absolute limit, you see that His mind, will, and heart are so saturated with the truths, the narratives, the images, the promises, the warnings [that] when He was stabbed, He literally bled Scripture.” Jesus faced everything with the Word.
What about you? Are you so saturated with the Word that it’s what comes out when you’re fearful, worried, stressed, confused, crushed, hurt, or vulnerable? Or do you bleed out something else – anger, retaliation, hatred, more fear, or worry? Does the Word have the highest authority in your life? Is your life rooted in the Word? Listen to what God said in Isaiah 66:2, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my Word.” If you feel like you don’t have this love for the Word, pray for it. If you don’t even have the desire to pray, ask others, your Community Group, to pray for you. We must stop passively waiting for something to change in us to turn to the Word. Let us eagerly seek after it. Let’s be ambitious for the Word – it’s a lamp to our feet, the truth that sets us free; without it, we’re like sheep without a shepherd.
The second thing I want us to notice from Jesus’ response is that He puts the focus on the right thing – the heart. Verse 6, quoting what God said in Isaiah, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” God first desires your heart. Why? Because according to the Bible, the heart is the centre of your personhood – it’s who you really are. This means that what rules your heart will rule your life and your behavior, which is why God is after your heart knowing that if He doesn’t have your heart, He doesn’t really have you. Then it’s very important to ask, “Who is ruling my heart today?” When you go back to school or work tomorrow, who controls and motivates you to study or work in the way you do? Who controls you in your relationships with one another – in the way you speak to your parents, spouse, children, and friends? Who is ruling your heart when you experience suffering in life, betrayal from someone you trusted, or failure after failure in all that you do? God is after your heart because our faith is ultimately first a matter of the heart.
But God is after your heart for another reason: because what defiles us is not outside-in but inside-out. Look at verse 15, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” Defilement starts with what’s inside you. The world says we are what we do, but Jesus says we do what we are. It’s our heart that is self-centred. It’s our heart that wants to live a life that honors and pleases ourselves rather than the God who created us. It’s our heart that wants God to serve us rather than for us to serve God. If our problem was just behavior, what these religious leaders were doing would’ve been more than enough – just be rigorous in obeying the laws. But our problem is not ultimately our behavior. Our problem is our very nature; our problem is the essence of who we are; our problem is us. Our problem is not first murder, but it’s this murderous heart, this unforgiving heart that leads us to hate others. Our problem is not first theft, but this discontent heart that seems never to be satisfied. Our problem is not first the act of disobedience, but this rebellious heart, this pride-filled heart that doesn’t want to give up the throne of our hearts.
Then what should we do? Listen to what Jesus says in Mark 9:43-47, “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.” Jesus said this because sin is deadly – it leads to separation from God, and it ultimately destroys everything we hold dear. There can be no compromises. We must do everything we can to avoid sin, to get rid of it from our lives. Then Jesus has just pointed out something absolutely devastating because He tells us that the thing that makes us unclean is not ultimately our foot or eye, it’s our heart. We can’t just cut off our hearts – it would kill us. Then how do we clean our hearts? Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 2:22, “Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before Me.” Outside-in cleansing cannot solve the problem of our heart – it will not work. But this is why Jesus came – to do the impossible, to give us a clean heart.
3) THE SOLUTION
Let’s turn to verse 19. Here, Mark adds his commentary to Jesus’ words. But notice that he doesn’t say, “Jesus said all foods were clean.” If he did, it would mean that the cleanliness laws on food were all just outdated. But that’s not what he said – rather, he said, “Jesus declared all foods clean.” Jesus was saying, “I make all foods clean. Just as I can calm the storm, cast out a legion of demons, and call a girl from death, I call all foods clean because it has been fulfilled in Me – I have already obeyed perfectly on behalf of you.” This is in line with what Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience. In other words, He alone has a perfect, clean heart. But what does this have to do with us? Everything.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is how we truly become clean: substitution. On the cross, He exchanged His place with us; His perfect, sinless, clean heart was transplanted to us while our imperfect, sinful, defiled, unclean heart was engrafted to Him. Then He died to pay the penalty for our sin. And anyone who trusts in Jesus, God promises that they will receive forgiveness and eternal life with the King and His people. This is the gospel – the good news: what seemed impossible (cleaning our stained heart) has been made possible through Jesus Christ (we receive His perfect heart). This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Has this happened to you? Have you experienced Jesus making you a new creation? Have you trusted Jesus to change you from the inside out? If not, I invite you to do so today. Ask Him to take your stains off and He will. He will take away your shame and guilt. And the best thing is that it doesn’t cost you anything (it’s free) because it cost Him everything. Jesus paid it all. Would you do that today? He is your only hope.
Then what about Christians? Hebrews 13:12-13 says, “Jesus also suffered outside the city gate [a place of absolute uncleanliness] to make the people holy through His own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.” Through Jesus Christ, at infinite cost to Himself, God has given us a new heart. Then as recipients of His grace, we must go outside – taking this message of grace to the world, where Christ is still working. As our mission statement says, let us endeavor to make disciples and make Christ known to the world – that we would truly shine in the darkness. We must help people see that He alone is their only hope.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus teaches us that what defiles us is not outside of us – it’s inside us; it’s the sin-saturated, sin-stained heart. And the only way to get a clean heart is through Jesus Christ, who offers His heart to us on the cross. Then let us receive with humility, with joy, and let us live to tell others about this wonderful news.
Discussion questions
Read the whole passage. Then share one thing that stands out to you and why.
What’s the danger Jesus presents in verse 6? In what ways might we honor God with our lips but not with our hearts?
Read verses 9-13. How are you tempted to elevate your thoughts and traditions above God’s Word? Can you think of examples where our traditions replace the commandment of God? How can we better saturate ourselves with the Word?
Read verses 20-23. What sin are you ignoring or failing to address? How can you allow Jesus to work through you to address this?