Debasing Ourselves

In Mark 7 when asked why they eat with defiled hands Jesus says to the Pharisees:
“You hypocrites . . . 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.” (Mark 7:7,15)
In other words, what defiles a person is not the cleanliness of their food but rather the inner workings of their heart.

Within the human heart there resides all manner of evil. Jesus lists twelve in Mark. They are: Fornication, Theft, Murder, Adultery, Avarice, Wickedness, Deceit, Licentiousness, Envy, Slander, Pride, and Folly. (Mark 7:21-23)

All of these vices derive from an inflated sense of one’s own importance. They list humanity’s inability to become self-restrained. They invoke a ‘haughtiness’ and an arrogance one can have. This list is what humanity uses to hold itself over and above the spiritual and to say its way is better than God’s.

But the sad part is we as humans have the capacity to give in to such vices and not even know it. We give in to deceit, slander, wickedness, pride, and folly every day. The Pharisees (who honestly were the most concerned group of people towards purity than anyone) got it wrong. They were so worried about righteousness they lost the inner connection with the divine.

The same fate will be ours if we are not careful. We must live a life that is centered on the holy, the pure, and the spiritual. We must be tapped in to our inner self. We must be aware of our motives and our capability for sin to infiltrate.

We all must be accountable for what goes on in our inner world.

The ones who have faith and strive to truly worship will not harbor skepticism but will love God with heart and soul, with mind and strength, and one’s neighbor as one’s self. Such love will make one’s heart pure and keep it from the kind of pollution that leads to the destructive tendencies and actions itemized in the list of vices in our passage. For most of us, it is past time that we paid attention to the condition of our hearts.

Remember: True worship requires integrity and purity of heart – not praxis.

Comments

Emily Jane said…
I think a bumper sticker that reads,
"Poop defiles"
would be appropriate here.
August 31, 2009 at 3:19 PM
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