This people honors Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding to the tradition of their elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unclean hands?" He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

'This people honors Me with their lips;
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

"For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."

When he had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, "Hear me, everyone, and understand. There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come not of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"

When he had entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. So he said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?" And he said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

- Mark 7:1-23

Today's reading is a teaching about the "traditions of men" and the "traditions of God" and how they differ -- or rather how one may obscure the other if we allow it to. If we give the "traditions of men" priority, then these things can be obstacles even to our worship and understanding of relationship to God. In the specific case today, the passage is discussing the raising of human tradition over the tradition of commandments of God.

My study bible points out that the tradition of the elders is a body of interpretations of the Law handed down orally, which for the Pharisees and the scribes is as authoritative as the written Law of Moses. "According to this tradition," my study bible notes, "purification--cleansing oneself from defiling contact with Gentiles or sinners--occurs by the outward act of ceremonial washing." Thus, the criticism: Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unclean hands?"

Jesus responds by calling the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites, and quotes from Isaiah 29:13:

This people honors Me with their lips;
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus points out to them that what they are taking such pains to keep to, and the grounds upon which they criticize him and his disciples, are traditions of men. Not only this, but they are used to obscure the teachings of God. He then gives the example of "Corban." This was the tradition of making offerings to God as a promise. One could declare property or earnings to God by promises ("Corban"), to prevent their use by one's parents, but continue to use them oneself. My study bible notes, "These secondary traditions obscure the primary commandments of God and obedience to them. Traditions not from God must never supersede traditions from God, or Holy Tradition. Unlike Holy Tradition, human traditions can prevent people from coming to God."

When he had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, "Hear me, everyone, and understand. There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come not of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!" Immediately, Jesus' experience with the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem becomes fodder for his teaching. No one is unclean or defiled by external touch, by eating, etc. My study bible notes, "Jesus teaches that nothing is of itself spiritually unclean. God makes all things good. Sins committed of our own free will, what comes from within us, defile and make the heart unpure."

When he had entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. So he said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also?" As is so often the case, his own disciples fail to understand him, to "have ears to hear." And so, he explains.

"Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?" And he said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man." It's not the food one eats. And, as we have seen from Jesus' healing touch to so many with ailments considered "unclean," it's not by touching anything considered unclean either that one is made unclean. Jesus' words are very strict here: it's the "unclean" things we harbor in our hearts that make us unclean. We recall that Jesus tells us that, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Whatever we choose to hang onto that is sinful is what makes us unclean, the things that don't show on the outside, for which an outward appearance can't make up.

So often, we find, hypocrites use the cover of false appearances to denote good character. A man who steals money will perhaps donate a portion of it to charity, or to put his name up on a building. A neglectful mother will make a great public show of her generosity to one of her children, in order to appease others and their gossip. Someone else may make a great show of "family values" while they steal inheritance from other relatives. Over and over again, we find the reliance on appearance -- appeasing the "traditions of men"-- as a sort of substitute for the internal work of easing the true hardness of heart, the things that stand in the way and keep us from a deeper relationship with God. Yesterday we wrote in commentary about the heart, and about what it is to have "hardness of heart" -- to fail to understand spiritual truth. In today's reading, Jesus speaks of the things that come out of the heart that defile a person.

If the heart (as we noted yesterday) is considered the seat of spiritual understanding, then the things which we "set our heart upon" that are not good for us, that stand in the way of relationship to God, are those things that cause "hardness of heart." By our own choices, we prefer one over the other: "evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" are the things that Jesus notes. (Note: "an evil eye" is envy.) So, what we guard in our hearts makes all the difference. And the strong upholding of the "traditions" or "commandments of men" over the "commandments of God" makes this hypocrisy possible, easier. Do you know people who uphold a good social image, doing "all the right things" -- and yet fail to guard against such defiling behavior in their hearts? Who harbor malice, or theft, or envy or some other form of evil or selfish behavior that belies that image? Jesus is telling us that the reliance on social appearances, the traditions of men, and the failure to discern that defilement doesn't come from the external but from the internal, are a combination made for spiritual hypocrisy. I think that we can take this as a condemnation in our society of those who uphold strong social profiles -- who live for appearance -- but who fail to take note of what is in their own hearts. We still cannot judge by appearance, the "traditions of men." It doesn't matter which society or system we are talking about, Jesus' words still apply -- and it's important to note that he's not condemning Jewish customs or traditions. He's pointing out what it is to prefer the traditions of men to the traditions of God, and the need to guard the heart, to open it up to God, and to allow healing and transformation from what truly defiles. To have ears to hear is to have a heart open to God, to the spiritual truth one will find through worship and prayer. To set one's heart upon a lack of self-examination or change, is to have the hardness of heart that will allow only hypocrisy and keep oneself from a true internal relationship with God, with that which cleanses and heals. To what do you open your heart today? It is Lent, and the time to think about "what we give up" and why we have such practices. We "give things up" not for the purpose of sacrifice, but in order to learn and to develop the discipline to give up what we truly need to give up: the things we keep in the heart that aren't good for us, or for our spiritual lives, or for anybody else. This is what we truly seek to give up. The rest is just an exercise for the true fasting we need in order to be healed.