The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren’t being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general, in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual handwashing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they’d give jugs and pots and pans). Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, Ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads.” Mark 7 The Message
Jesus had just come from the marketplace where He had healed many, when He was met by an official delegation from Jerusalem, some ninety miles away, people who were there to judge His credentials and His possible threat to the status quo. The Pharisees and officials had instantly noticed that the disciples did not follow the required traditions before preparing to eat. These oral traditions were complex, requiring more than simple hand washing for purposes of cleaning the hands, but elaborate ceremonies and rigid rituals, requiring special prayers during the hand washing process, with a final rinsing of the hands and elbows using water that had been preserved in a stone basin for this sole use. There were complex rules for the preparation of the utensils also. Jesus correctly concluded that these men were more concerned with image, appearance, ritual, and their man-made traditions than with a heart searching for God and His law. Jesus tells them that they have skilfully sidestepped God’s law to hold on to their own traditions and concludes that ‘their heart is far from me’. Jesus then explains that it is from within, and not from without, from the heart, that evil intentions and thoughts come.
For the Pharisees and law makers, contact with the marketplace and the people who gathered there, spoke of contamination, from which they had to be cleansed. For Jesus, the marketplace was where the needy and sick were to be found and where He could bring His grace, healing, and kingdom values. What a contrast!
Jesus makes it clear that in His kingdom He is looking for a heart and life transformation and not a ‘going through the motions’ way of living. The phrase ‘going through the motions’ is a powerful one. Jesus is looking for authentic being and living. For those of us who have been Christians for a very long time, then perhaps it is helpful to occasionally ask the question ‘what is the state of my heart?’ Why do I do or don’t do certain things? Have I fallen into patterns of behaviour and being that may need a major review and overhaul? And am I going to the marketplace to bring the light and love of Jesus? Or do I remain at home in the safe place where I do not need to be troubled?
PRAY
Jesus, I don’t want to be a ‘going through the motions’ follower.
I ask for your Holy Spirit to stir me up and transform my life.
I ask for your forgiveness when I settle for anything less than a true commitment to you.
Change me from the inside out.
AMEN