What Jesus did #21: he threw out the rule book

In my last post, we saw how Jesus broke the rules. I stated that Jesus broke God’s rules and I’ve been challenged about that since I wrote it. According to the spiritual leaders at the time, Jesus broke God’s rules, yes.

He broke one of the Ten Commandments. But actually what Jesus did was disobey the commandment as the religious leaders interpreted it. They had take God’s rule and added to it. They’d expanded it and made it into something God had never intended it to be. He’d broken their interpretation of the rules. In no way was Jesus disobeying God at any point.

It’s the same in today’s passage from Matthew 15 and Mark 7. The religious establishment had built up a whole set of rules around eating and drinking: a list of foods you could not eat because they were defiled, traditions around ceremonial washing of hands and cups and bowls and cooking equipment.

And Jesus’ disciples were not sticking to the rules. They were setting a bad example. Something had to be done about it.

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”  Mark 7:1-8

The teachers of the law thought they were doing the right thing in providing a clear structure of how to behave for the people of God to follow and obey. The problem was that it ended up focusing on the externals and not what was going on on the inside. The traditions had become more important than a genuine relationship with the one true God.

These rules and traditions end up providing a clear structure for measuring up. You can measure someone’s spirituality by how they stick to the rules, how they play the game. You can judge others when they break the rules. We see this in our faith communities all the time. I have a friend who before I got to know her, had a vibrant faith. She got put off for good when she was told that Christians could not watch horror films. She loved horror films and did not believe that she would be able to stick to that rule so she walked away. Nothing I’ve been able to say to her since has persuaded her to give faith another go. How many other cases are there out there of people who’ve walked away because of the external rules imposed on them that have very little to do with real faith and far more to do with culture and tradition?

What matters is what’s going on on the inside. That is all that matters.

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

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 person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Mark 7:14-23

I’ve grown up in a church tradition that has tried to tell me what I can read and what I can not, what I can watch and what I can not, where I can go and where I can not. This structure was there to protect me from the evil world out there, stop me from being tempted to do wrong, keep me separated from that which could ‘defile’ me. And yet I missed out on SO much. I was a square peg in a round hole. I tried so hard to be who they wanted me to be that I lost sight of what I actually was.

I have been judged on the way I dress and behave, the things I say, the people I mix with, the places I go. Jesus is saying it isn’t any of these things that define a person. I’m wholeheartedly with him on that. If you feel the need to judge me, then judge me on these things – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. Get to know me and get to know what’s in my heart.

There’s a wonderful world out there: a world of art and culture and inspiration and curiosity and architecture and life in all its fullness to explore and experience. Remember God’s promise? Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing I read or watch or visit or hear can separate me from the love of God. Not in themselves. No one I meet or mix with can separate me from the love of God. Not in themselves. It’s what’s going on on the inside that matters. So yes, maybe there are certain places and situations and people we will choose to steer clear of if they have an adverse affect on our relationship with God and with others. But that is different for each one of us. Each one of us needs to work that out for ourselves.

In Jesus’ day, the religious community was so caught up in keeping the rules that it had not time for developing a genuine relationship with God. Jesus came to throw out the rule book, to challenge the traditions and show them up for what they were. The same can be said for some religious communities today, in which everything is done how it’s always been done without any real understanding of why.

For Jesus, it all boiled down to this.

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40

Maybe it’s time to strip it all back to basics. To convince my friend that she can watch all the horror films she wants if that’s her thing and still develop a living connection with the living God.

Let’s stop judging people on how they behave and start to look at the heart. It all boils down to love.

Love God. Love others. Love yourself.

That’s it.

It will look different for each one of us.

Let’s stop looking at others and comparing and judging and just get on with loving God, loving others and loving ourselves today and everyday.