In the time
of Jesus, one of the preoccupations amongst the doctors of the law was that of
‘cleanliness’ or more so ‘uncleanliness’.
There seemed morbid fascination with how many ways one could be (or be
made to be) “unclean”. Often the most
natural bodily functions could render a person unclean; or living with an
illness or diseases could have the same effect.
There were many ritual ways to be unclean – and uncleanliness meant a
person couldn’t participate in many aspects of social or religious life.
Jesus sees
beyond and through all such teachings.
He redefines ‘uncleanliness’ and moves the discussion away from mere
external or accidental causes and instead focuses on the inner life of a
person. As always, Jesus looks to the
heart, to the inner motivation of a person and doesn’t make judgements based on
appearances or external factors in isolation.
This
teaching is much like a similar one where Jesus alerts his followers to the
fact that one can judge the intentions or aims of a person, not by what they
claim but ‘by their fruits’ (Matthew 7:16).
But in Mark
7:14-23 Jesus speaks of the opposite dimension of this same reality. That is, it’s not what a person eats, hears
or is influenced by that makes he or she ‘unclean’. He stresses quite clearly that while we’re all
affected by what happens to us, by the information we take in, by the
experiences we endure – the real factor in determining whether what we do or
say is good or not good is to be found in our inner disposition or intentions.
Goodness
emerges from a person – from within. It’s
not a product of what is absorbed in the sense that external forces and
concerns don’t make a person ‘unclean’ or necessarily good. We choose between these poles and this is a
constant throughout life.
Jesus doesn’t
concern himself, nor does he allow people to be distracted by or satisfied by
any suggestion that sin or evil arises from minor or petty issues; for example,
like the failure to wash one’s hands before eating (Mark 7:1-13). Jesus speaks of sin having its origins in
deeper realities – those attitudes and tendencies that we choose to follow –
that reside in our hearts and that can do great harm to others or to ourselves.
In some ways
Jesus could not be clearer, “From
within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance,
folly. All these evils come from within
and they defile.”
To act in
such ways is so foreign to God’s plan for us and runs in the face of God’s
vision for us. Jesus sees people much as
they were created – as the image and likeness of God and as God’s precious
creation. “The
LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils
the breath of life, and so man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:4-17)
God’s plan
for us is a life lived in the midst of a ‘delightful’ creation; a life lived in
an open and trustful relationship to God.
This is life; this is our original gift – our default position. Jesus encourages us to keep returning to this
stance before God.
Our way home
each and every day is to open our hearts to God’s healing and soothing love, to
respond wholeheartedly to those moments of conversion offered to us.
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