This Sunday the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 7:1-23.[1] The English Standard Version divides it into two parts. It titles the first part “Traditions and Commandments” and the second part, “What Defiles a Person?”
In the previous chapter, Mark described Jesus sending out the twelve members of his inner circle. He sent them out to heal people, to cast out evil spirits from them, and to command them to repent of their sins. They returned and described how successful they had been.
Mark also included what we’ve read over the past several weeks in John’s gospel: huge crowds followed and gathered around Jesus.
It’s easy for us to miss the huge impact Jesus had on society. He sprang into action immediately after the self-designated “King” Herod Antipas angered the people by ordering the beheading of Jesus’ predecessor, the fiery preacher John Baptist. Jesus made waves. Made the headlines.
The land was under occupation. Roman soldiers enforced obedience. Taxes were heavy. People were forced to work for little or no pay. They were up to their eyeballs in debt. They had to pay lots of taxes. They were sick, hungry, crazy, angry.
The extent to which the population was lame, blind, sick, possessed, became obvious to everyone because people travelled from everywhere to Jesus. They came to him for healing. To experience compassion.
As they travelled, their conversation was about the hardships they had to endure. They voiced their longings to be freed from Roman oppression.
Jesus was a national sensation. He made waves as a miracle worker. Not just healing people and casting out demons. He’d just miraculously fed about 20,000 people, by multiplying one boy’s picnic lunch.
Word about Jesus had spread far and wide. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, the elites, the ones who collaborated with the Romans to ensure that Jewish religious practices could continue, became very concerned. They sent a delegation to Jesus. The Pharisees, the enforcers of Jewish identity, were also upset.
The contrast Mark sets up is intentional and striking. If you’re attentive, it’ll hit you between the eyes.
After telling readers about the massive flow of sick and healed people, and the miraculous feeding of thousands of people, Mark introduces the Jerusalem delegation and the local Pharisees. What do they say to Jesus?
They grumble to him that his disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating. What were they thinking?
At this stage, I need to stop discussing the passage and make an excursion. I need to speak about Pharisees. Because we live in the shadow of the holocaust, the genocide of six million Jews. Because we know how badly Christians have treated Jews over the centuries.
The church took a very negative view of the Jews.
Why? Because the Bible often speaks negatively about “the Pharisees” and “the Jews.” And because it blames them for the murder of Jesus. The church seemingly “forgot” that Jesus, the Twelve, and Paul, were Jews.
The church mis-read the Bible’s teaching about Pharisees.
Helmut Thielicke was a German pastor-theologian who stood against Hitler and the Nazis. He preached to massive crowds in Germany during the war. He published his sermons on The Lord’s Prayer as a book. In it, he points out how we should read the Bible’s teachings about Pharisees:
“… only as we learn in communion with Jesus Christ how he discovers the child of God even in the lowest of the low, how he sees through the layer of dirt that covers Pharisee and publican and prostitute alike, and dies for them all, only then are we too enabled to love the brethren, and their lives become sacred, even though they are vile and evil or mad and mentally ill and “unfit for life.”
It’s a fact that Jews and Christians have different opinions of Jesus. Abraham Joshua Heschel, perhaps the best-known Jewish Rabbi of the 20th century, strained to get the Catholic church to drop its goal of converting Jews.[2] He succeeded. This was codified in Vatican II, in 1965.[3]
It’s also a fact that Judaism survived the destruction of its focus point, the Jerusalem Temple. Pharisees and scribes figured out how Judaism could continue without the Temple. Judaism today traces its roots to them. Therefore, Jews are sensitive to anything negative said about them.
But the fact remains that the inspired gospel writers tell us the Pharisees and scribes placed great importance on the outward forms of their faith. The Pharisees said Jews must constantly signal their “separation.” They honoured Jesus, but wished he would be “better.”
I now return to the passage. What do we take away from their response? It’s a warning to us. It’s a warning that we must not place too much emphasis on signalling differences through traditions and rituals.
We mustn’t criticize those who don’t observe the colours of the seasons, for example white at Christmas, red at Pentecost. We mustn’t mock those who claim extemporaneous prayers are superior to the reading of prayers. We mustn’t sneer at those who use incense. And the list goes on.
Should we preach the gospel to Jews?
We are under orders to preach the gospel to everyone. Through our lives; through our commitment to one another, and to our neighbours; through our rituals; through our preaching. It’s up to listeners to decide.
Peace be with you.
[1] Mark 7:1-8;14-15;21-23.
[2] He famously said he would endure Auschwitz concentration camp rather than give up his Jewish faith.
[3] In September 2023, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) published a 132-page document titled “Hope for the Future: A Study Document for Renewing Jewish-Christian Relations.” You can download it here.
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