Jesus of Nazareth continues to redefine good and evil, clean and unclean, for the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Two weeks ago we reported that some of these leaders had objected to the disciples of Jesus eating without washing their hands. At that time the rabbi from Nazareth scolded these Pharisees for holding on to the traditions of men and not obeying the commands of God, but recently this whole issue of ceremonial cleansing came up again.
Jesus had been teaching a large group of people. "When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside [the dish] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.’" (Luke 11:37-41 NIV)
On the previous occasion "Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'’
After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)
He went on: ‘What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'’" (Mark 7:14-23 NIV)
The Religion of Jesus is Heart not Hands from Look at the Man by Tim Woodroof and Glen Gray
A Cleansing by Gerry Sturgeon
Return to Past Issues of The Good News
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at gerrys@christianlight.com
Copyright © 1996 by Gerry Sturgeon
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.