One Sunday a man sat through a church service and then on the way home he moaned about the sermon, he got angry about the traffic, he complained about the heat, and he made a big fuss about how late his lunch was served ! Then he bowed his head and prayed, giving God thanks for the food.
His son was watching him all the way through this after-church experience and just as they were beginning to eat he said, “Daddy, did God hear you when we left the church and you started moaning about the sermon and about the traffic and about the heat?”
The father replied rather embarrassed, “Well, yes, son, He heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, did God hear you when you just prayed for this food right now?”
And he says, “Well, yes, son, He …heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, which one did God believe?”
That little story shows a problem that afflicts lots of us at times ! Too often what we claim to be or even try to be, and what we really are, is quite a long way apart.
It’s not hypocrisy as long as we know the problem - many Christians are sometimes called hypocrites – it’s very often untrue, and more of an excuse for the person saying it not to attend Church – but hypocrisy within a religious setting is certainly nothing new.
In the NT reading this evening (Mark 7:1-23), Jesus meets some people who have come simply to find fault with his work – they are worried about him – he has fed the 5000, he has walked on water, healed the sick – he is out of their control, and so they look for little faults… and it doesn’t take them long to find something to complain about.
These men see the disciples of Jesus eating food without washing their hands and they are offended. And as they attack Jesus he fights back - they think the issue is one of clean hands, but Jesus shows them that the issue is really about clean hearts. And to every generation that have followed since this passage has something to say to people who are more concerned about clean hands than they are about clean hearts – who are more concerned with what is visible than what is not…
Jesus teaches that the inside of a person should match the outside of that person. He teaches us that what we are in our heart is what we really are! He reminds us that hypocrisy and legalism have no place in our lives.
So, back to these Pharisees and scribes who watched Jesus and His followers… when they noticed that His disciples were eating without washing their hands, they found fault. Now this wasn’t a hygiene issue at all – the disciples may well have had clean hands but if they had not washed them in the correct way, they would still be classed as dirty…
In the Jewish Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish laws made around 200 AD, over 35 pages of instructions were devoted to washing alone.
Like most rules many of these were brought in with good intentions – often to remove the temptation to do wrong… For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden in the rule book, because if you looked into the mirror on the Sabbath day and saw a grey hair, you might be tempted to pull it out and thus perform work on the Sabbath. You also could not wear your false teeth; if they fell out, you would have to pick them up and you would be working… One quite bizarre rule was that you could spit on the Sabbath, but you had to be careful where. If it landed on the dirt and you scuffed it with your sandal, you would be cultivating the soil and thus performing work.
It’s easy to see how foolish such man made rules had become. Again, the problem with their rules is they were not from God, but from man. Their rules were not God’s rules; they were rules made by men seeking to control other men.
In this reading Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Scribes over dependence on rules - He accuses these men of being hypocrites, and accuses them of elevating their traditions to the point that they carry more weight than the Word of God itself.
Once a miserable old Vicar was teaching a Sunday School class. He wanted to help them understand what a Christian was, so he asked them a question. “Why do people call me a Christian?” There was a moment of silence and then one of the boys said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.”
Just like that little boy, Jesus always told it just like it was. He told the Pharisees and the scribes exactly what they were. And today he still looks at us and recognises what we are – he sees our good points and he sees our bad points, even the ones that are well hidden from anyone else !
Like the Pharisees and the Scribes we can put ourselves in a position where people respect us, we can put ourselves into a position where people will listen to what we say because we speak with a kind of authority… like the Pharisees and the Scribes we can look for faults in others, and judge them…
But we know that actually these things mean nothing in the light of Jesus’ teaching – Jesus told us that it is what is in our hearts that is important – it is what we think, as well as what we do and say that is vital…
And he challenges us to allow God to change us from the inside – to change our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit – that we can care and love in a way that he wants us to, that we can speak with his wisdom and his compassion, that we can think with a generous and warm mind that looks to embrace rather than exclude people…
May we allow God to change us and use us so completely that we become like him, and that when people look at us or listen to us, they will know that we truly represent a God of love and new life. AMEN
His son was watching him all the way through this after-church experience and just as they were beginning to eat he said, “Daddy, did God hear you when we left the church and you started moaning about the sermon and about the traffic and about the heat?”
The father replied rather embarrassed, “Well, yes, son, He heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, did God hear you when you just prayed for this food right now?”
And he says, “Well, yes, son, He …heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, which one did God believe?”
That little story shows a problem that afflicts lots of us at times ! Too often what we claim to be or even try to be, and what we really are, is quite a long way apart.
It’s not hypocrisy as long as we know the problem - many Christians are sometimes called hypocrites – it’s very often untrue, and more of an excuse for the person saying it not to attend Church – but hypocrisy within a religious setting is certainly nothing new.
In the NT reading this evening (Mark 7:1-23), Jesus meets some people who have come simply to find fault with his work – they are worried about him – he has fed the 5000, he has walked on water, healed the sick – he is out of their control, and so they look for little faults… and it doesn’t take them long to find something to complain about.
These men see the disciples of Jesus eating food without washing their hands and they are offended. And as they attack Jesus he fights back - they think the issue is one of clean hands, but Jesus shows them that the issue is really about clean hearts. And to every generation that have followed since this passage has something to say to people who are more concerned about clean hands than they are about clean hearts – who are more concerned with what is visible than what is not…
Jesus teaches that the inside of a person should match the outside of that person. He teaches us that what we are in our heart is what we really are! He reminds us that hypocrisy and legalism have no place in our lives.
So, back to these Pharisees and scribes who watched Jesus and His followers… when they noticed that His disciples were eating without washing their hands, they found fault. Now this wasn’t a hygiene issue at all – the disciples may well have had clean hands but if they had not washed them in the correct way, they would still be classed as dirty…
In the Jewish Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish laws made around 200 AD, over 35 pages of instructions were devoted to washing alone.
Like most rules many of these were brought in with good intentions – often to remove the temptation to do wrong… For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden in the rule book, because if you looked into the mirror on the Sabbath day and saw a grey hair, you might be tempted to pull it out and thus perform work on the Sabbath. You also could not wear your false teeth; if they fell out, you would have to pick them up and you would be working… One quite bizarre rule was that you could spit on the Sabbath, but you had to be careful where. If it landed on the dirt and you scuffed it with your sandal, you would be cultivating the soil and thus performing work.
It’s easy to see how foolish such man made rules had become. Again, the problem with their rules is they were not from God, but from man. Their rules were not God’s rules; they were rules made by men seeking to control other men.
In this reading Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Scribes over dependence on rules - He accuses these men of being hypocrites, and accuses them of elevating their traditions to the point that they carry more weight than the Word of God itself.
Once a miserable old Vicar was teaching a Sunday School class. He wanted to help them understand what a Christian was, so he asked them a question. “Why do people call me a Christian?” There was a moment of silence and then one of the boys said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.”
Just like that little boy, Jesus always told it just like it was. He told the Pharisees and the scribes exactly what they were. And today he still looks at us and recognises what we are – he sees our good points and he sees our bad points, even the ones that are well hidden from anyone else !
Like the Pharisees and the Scribes we can put ourselves in a position where people respect us, we can put ourselves into a position where people will listen to what we say because we speak with a kind of authority… like the Pharisees and the Scribes we can look for faults in others, and judge them…
But we know that actually these things mean nothing in the light of Jesus’ teaching – Jesus told us that it is what is in our hearts that is important – it is what we think, as well as what we do and say that is vital…
And he challenges us to allow God to change us from the inside – to change our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit – that we can care and love in a way that he wants us to, that we can speak with his wisdom and his compassion, that we can think with a generous and warm mind that looks to embrace rather than exclude people…
May we allow God to change us and use us so completely that we become like him, and that when people look at us or listen to us, they will know that we truly represent a God of love and new life. AMEN
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