Matching the inside and outside....
from Helen
Sometimes in life we are caught out by children, they have a habit of remembering everything and so occasionally they will come out with something you didn’t even think they had heard. This happened to one man as he was travelling home from Church with his wife and son in the car. The man moaned all the way home - first he moaned about the sermon, then he got angry about the traffic, then he complained about the heat, and when they all got home he made a big fuss about how late his lunch was served ! After all this he bowed his head and prayed, giving God thanks for the food.
His son as they all went to eat asked, “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 was just a little awkward as he answered, “Well, yes, son, He heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, did God hear you when you just prayed for this food right now?”
Talk about being caught out - the man answered, “Well, yes He ...heard. “
The son replied, “Well, Daddy, which one did God believe?”
The little boy noticed that his Dad was living one way by moaning but still praying as well. We can all do this, we can seem like really good Christians but not be as perfect as we would like to be.
This is the type of problem that Jesus encountered in the gospel reading that we heard today (Mark 7:1-23). In the reading we heard of the Pharisees and scribes judging Jesus for doing things differently to them. They were convinced that they were perfect before God. They kept very strict laws and it was a little bit because they were afraid that if they broke
one law about the way to live that God had given through Moses then they would be punished. The problem was that they had got so convinced about this they made sure that they had extra laws on top of the laws that Moses had given.
They wrote the extra laws down in the Jewish Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish laws made around 200 AD, in this there are over 35 pages of instructions on how to wash correctly.
The rules were made for the right reason but they had become so obsessive that they missed the point. The point being, as Jesus told them, that what was inside mattered more than outward appearances.
The rules in the Mishnah that they had in order to make sure that they rested on the Sabbath and didn’t do any work may seem ridiculous to us. For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden 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 as you aren’t meant to work on the sabbath then this would count as work. If you had false teeth you couldn’t wear them on the sabbath because if they fell out you would have to bend down and pick them up and so you would be working. You were allowed to spit on the sabbath as long as you were careful where your spit landed because if you spat on dirt and rubbed it with your sandal then you were working because you would be cultivating the soil.
The rules were there to protect the rules that had been given by God. The problem was that people were so determined to keep these laws they ended up being too legalistic.
For the Pharisees they were so keen to keep to the laws of the Old Testament they made up more laws to make sure they didn’t break one. Because of this they were so concerned with getting everything right they didn’t think of the fact that it is no use having clean hands if your heart wasn’t clean. Jesus pointed out this out to them by calling the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites who were so concerned with their laws they were making them more important than the Word of God.
The Pharisees and Scribes in criticising Jesus didn’t take into account that by doing this they weren’t living up to the fact that they were to be pure and put God first on the inside as well as in outward appearances. Jesus was pointing out that having clean hands meant nothing if their hearts weren’t clean.
There was once a miserable old Vicar who 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.”
Actually although this is a funny little story it reminds us of how important it is to live like God. To love
Iike God, to forgive one another, to try and show that God has changed us and made a difference in our lives. You have probably heard it before but there is a saying that there are 5 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and you and most people don’t read the first four.
Jesus as He reminded the Scribes and Pharisees who they were before God reminds us as well that God knows us and He can see our heart.
We all get shocked when a religious leader does something wrong because we expect a certain standard from them. We expect them to be Holy, as we should, but actually we are called to be holy as well. To not judge others, to not hold something against someone that may have happened a long time ago, to look more at a persons heart than anything.
Outward appearances are nothing compared to a relationship with God which is built on us loving Him as He loves us. Which is built on us allowing God to change us, to transform us as we become more like Him. So that when people look at us the outward appearance of love and acceptance is just like what is inside.
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
Sometimes in life we are caught out by children, they have a habit of remembering everything and so occasionally they will come out with something you didn’t even think they had heard. This happened to one man as he was travelling home from Church with his wife and son in the car. The man moaned all the way home - first he moaned about the sermon, then he got angry about the traffic, then he complained about the heat, and when they all got home he made a big fuss about how late his lunch was served ! After all this he bowed his head and prayed, giving God thanks for the food.
His son as they all went to eat asked, “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 was just a little awkward as he answered, “Well, yes, son, He heard me.”
“Well, Daddy, did God hear you when you just prayed for this food right now?”
Talk about being caught out - the man answered, “Well, yes He ...heard. “
The son replied, “Well, Daddy, which one did God believe?”
The little boy noticed that his Dad was living one way by moaning but still praying as well. We can all do this, we can seem like really good Christians but not be as perfect as we would like to be.
This is the type of problem that Jesus encountered in the gospel reading that we heard today (Mark 7:1-23). In the reading we heard of the Pharisees and scribes judging Jesus for doing things differently to them. They were convinced that they were perfect before God. They kept very strict laws and it was a little bit because they were afraid that if they broke
one law about the way to live that God had given through Moses then they would be punished. The problem was that they had got so convinced about this they made sure that they had extra laws on top of the laws that Moses had given.
They wrote the extra laws down in the Jewish Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish laws made around 200 AD, in this there are over 35 pages of instructions on how to wash correctly.
The rules were made for the right reason but they had become so obsessive that they missed the point. The point being, as Jesus told them, that what was inside mattered more than outward appearances.
The rules in the Mishnah that they had in order to make sure that they rested on the Sabbath and didn’t do any work may seem ridiculous to us. For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden 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 as you aren’t meant to work on the sabbath then this would count as work. If you had false teeth you couldn’t wear them on the sabbath because if they fell out you would have to bend down and pick them up and so you would be working. You were allowed to spit on the sabbath as long as you were careful where your spit landed because if you spat on dirt and rubbed it with your sandal then you were working because you would be cultivating the soil.
The rules were there to protect the rules that had been given by God. The problem was that people were so determined to keep these laws they ended up being too legalistic.
For the Pharisees they were so keen to keep to the laws of the Old Testament they made up more laws to make sure they didn’t break one. Because of this they were so concerned with getting everything right they didn’t think of the fact that it is no use having clean hands if your heart wasn’t clean. Jesus pointed out this out to them by calling the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites who were so concerned with their laws they were making them more important than the Word of God.
The Pharisees and Scribes in criticising Jesus didn’t take into account that by doing this they weren’t living up to the fact that they were to be pure and put God first on the inside as well as in outward appearances. Jesus was pointing out that having clean hands meant nothing if their hearts weren’t clean.
There was once a miserable old Vicar who 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.”
Actually although this is a funny little story it reminds us of how important it is to live like God. To love
Iike God, to forgive one another, to try and show that God has changed us and made a difference in our lives. You have probably heard it before but there is a saying that there are 5 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and you and most people don’t read the first four.
Jesus as He reminded the Scribes and Pharisees who they were before God reminds us as well that God knows us and He can see our heart.
We all get shocked when a religious leader does something wrong because we expect a certain standard from them. We expect them to be Holy, as we should, but actually we are called to be holy as well. To not judge others, to not hold something against someone that may have happened a long time ago, to look more at a persons heart than anything.
Outward appearances are nothing compared to a relationship with God which is built on us loving Him as He loves us. Which is built on us allowing God to change us, to transform us as we become more like Him. So that when people look at us the outward appearance of love and acceptance is just like what is inside.
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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