Comparison Game
Mark 7:1-23
Which is better, to do what you do or what I do?
Photo by Rishabh Butola on Unsplash
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother' and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban' (that is, an offering to God)-- then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this." Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." - Mark 7:1-23
Jesus is making a point about following the laws and traditions of the faith.
It is the same point he made when he talked about the log in one's eye.
The Pharisees and scribes are criticizing the followers of Jesus for not following tradition, but Jesus tells them that what the Pharisees are doing is way worse.
At first, it may seem like a childhood playground comparison of strength or wit or size, but it is not that.
Jesus is saying they worry about following traditions while failing to follow the commandments. There is a big difference between laws made to try to get people to follow the commandments and the actual commandments themselves.
It is not unlawful to eat with defiled hands; it is just not following the tradition of the people.
But finding a way to avoid caring for one's parents is against both tradition and the commandments.
So, it is a comparison game. But it is one that makes a point about hypocrisy in our faith.
We make comparisons all the time. Our entire diplomatic structure is based on comparisons. If you do that, we will do this.
It is verbal warfare, and it can be very successful. Jesus declared war on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees over and over again. Eventually, it got him killed. We might think that he should have kept his mouth shut. It would have been better for him to talk about them in private rather than to their faces.
But would there be such a strong following of Jesus today if he had?
If we are going to stand up against hypocrisy, we have to make sure we are in the right and that our argument is greater than our opposition's argument.
To win the game, you have to hold the better hand.
More to come...