After Pentecost
Mark 7:14–23
14And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand:
15There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."
16
17And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,
19since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" ( Thus he declared all foods clean.)
20And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
21For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
22coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
One of the oldest questions of mankind: Why do bad things happen? Why is there evil in the world? Why are there bad people? Will humanity ever solve the problem of evil?
So much effort has been given to this problem. So many answers have been devised, and still today the problem persists. The Greek philosopher Diogenes walked through the streets carrying a lamp in the daytime looking for an honest man, but all he found were "rascals and scoundrels." The Utopian society was supposed to eliminate greed and selfishness and thus wipe out the causes of evil. In more modern times, we fought the war to end all wars, and since then there has never been a day without war somewhere on earth. Some have taken the approach that if we could just lock up every bad person the problem of evil would be solved. But how can we solve the problem, if, as Jesus points out in our text, we don't even understand what sin really is.
Let's begin by taking a look at some of our modern ideas regarding sin and evil.
One idea popular today is that sin merely deals with our outward, ethical behavior. Therefore if we work harder at it we could be better people, we could eventually overcome all our deficiencies if we just educated ourselves enough. People actually believe that with the help of behavioral science and other sciences we will one day find the solutions to all man's problems. We develop classes and read books to better ourselves. We have "conflict resolution" and "diversity education" in schools and businesses, but...conflicts and prejudice still happen. We fought a war against poverty, but...we lost, and poverty still haunts us. We teach sex education in schools, and more than ever young people, still practically children themselves, are having sex and becoming parents.
If sin was just about our behavior, we should be able to get rid of it by legislation. We enact laws about discrimination and equal opportunity but...discrimination and racism still exist. We put more and more gun laws on the books, but...people still murder. We lock up all the criminals, and there is still crime.
This sort of reasoning effects even Christians who find themselves trying to overcome the sin in their lives by reading the right book, getting the right counsel or just trying a little harder to be better. They think it is just a matter of obeying the do's and don'ts of God's commandments. We see sin as a mere ethical or behavioral problem. But in spite of all our efforts to be better people, more pious or more spiritual, we only wind up getting more and more frustrated with each passing day. We keep adding to the things we have to do to better ourselves until there isn't even time to read all the books or go to all the therapy groups we need. We never quite achieve a holy life. We are just spinning our arms in the air like a windmill going round and round but never getting anywhere. Because, as Jesus teaches, sin has to do with our inner being, our basic human nature, it comes from the heart. It is not just an issue of behavior.
Another way our culture tries to solve the problem of evil and sin is to just give in to it. Admit that we are bad and so accept it as natural. After all, the real problem is not the behavior which just comes naturally, the real problem for people is the guilt and shame that so often come with it. So let's get rid of guilt and shame: just change the definitions of evil. For instance: today a rapist can blame a supposed "rape" gene. An adulterer is "diagnosed" as a "sex addict." We all know people are just born homosexual. Sin is changed from a moral issue to a clinical issue. Today we send sinners to therapy and counseling instead of the confessional. By redefining sin as a clinical or hereditary thing, we remove all guilt and shame. There is no more guilt in having an affair than in catching a cold.
Another way we deal with sin today is to call it natural and normal. "It's just an alternative life style." or "I'm just doing what comes naturally," they say. If anger is what comes naturally, then it's not any more sinful than eating "natural" or "organic" food. Yes, today society has found a solution to the problem of sin and evil alright: just re-define evil as good, and suddenly it has disappeared!
Another approach is to reason that, "if I am a sinner by nature, then God made me this way." OK, so let's just blame God?
And many churchgoers today reason that if God is loving, he wouldn't punish sin. A loving god will just forgive me so it doesn't really matter what I do. If I wear skimpy and provocative clothing that tempts someone to commit adultery in their thoughts, it's OK. God wants us to come as you are.
The problem is that we in the church are influenced by the things society tells us. Many people today who profess to be Christians, have few qualms about living in adulterous relationships, even same sex relationship. I have known Christian parents who invite their daughter's boy friend from college to spend Christmas vacation and they put the couple in the same bedroom for the week. Today people boast about how many divorces they have had. I have heard kids brag about getting drunk at youth group meetings. (Not here in our church, just for the record.) Surveys show that Christian young adults think that "old fashioned morality" is just that: old fashioned. It's not that some things are bad, just their parents just aren't up to date.
But, regardless of how society sees things, the Bible tells us something very different. Sin is still sin! The wages of sin is still death! God still condemns sin and punishes the sinner. God's wrath burns against the sinner. If you think living in adultery is no problem because God is loving and forgiving, then just take a look at Sodom and Gomorrah. If adultery is OK, then why did David's son die? If not honoring and obeying your parents is OK, then why was Absalom hung from a tree? If God is not serious about his command to worship him, then why did he send fire down to kill Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons?
Sin is not old fashioned. It still goes not today. We still do bad things. We still are guilty. We are still shameful creatures regardless of what society says.
Jesus today is telling us something quite different from society. He defines sin in a completely new way; not only new to our culture, but in a way that is novel even to most professing Christians today. Jesus said that evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness and all evil things come from within, from the heart, and this is what defiles a person. Because we are by nature sinful and unclean, out of our hearts come all sorts of evil, adultery, hatred, immorality, and so forth. In other words, we are not sinful because we do bad things, rather, we do bad things because we are sinful. Sin is not what we do, but what we are. And if our hearts are sinful, we are trapped. There is nothing we can do to change what we are by nature. No amount of effort, trying harder, classes, seminars or Christian retreats will rid us of sin. We are slaves to sin. Since sin is from the heart, it means every one of us is guilty regardless of how good a person you might be on the outside. Regardless of how honest and decent a person you are, you are a sinner before God and full of guilt and deserve his punishment. The fact is, God hates sin. We are by nature the children of wrath and deserve God's anger and punishment. We are guilty and we should be ashamed.
So, since our hearts are the source of sin, we humans are sinful by nature. In order to eliminate evil we have to change people's basic nature. Re-education, diversity training, conflict resolution classes, sex education in school, locking up all criminals, none of these things are going to eliminate sin and evil. Re-defining sin as a sickness or just something normal cannot get rid of our guilt before God. Society can't take away guilt and shame with all their philosophies, therapy, or counseling.
How can we extricate ourselves from sin? The more we work and sweat at it, the worse off we are. For there is no way to remove sin and guilt except by grace. The grace of God which he pours out on us in the death of His Son. There is a solution to the problem of evil and death. And that solution is the cross of Jesus Christ. By sending His Son, God himself provides the solution to our sin and our shame and our guilt and even death. Jesus, by his death on the cross removes guilt and shame. By the death of Jesus Christ, payment for our sin has been made, we are forgiven. Jesus subjected himself to the law of God in order to set us free from sin's power and dominion over us. Jesus bore our guilt on his own shoulders and died the shameful death on a cross in order to wipe away our guilt and shame with his own blood. Society can't take away guilt and shame with therapy or counseling, but Jesus does takes away guilt and shame. By his death our sins are paid and he invites us to come to him and repent and receive his forgiveness and grace. To the penitent sinner he says, "Your sins are forgiven, go sin no more."
He who repents of his sin is released from guilt because Jesus paid for our sins and earned forgiveness for us. We are released from shame because God has declared us righteous so we stand before God as holy and sinless.
By denying the reality of sin. By calling it a sickness instead of an offense against God. By trying to produce good works and holiness in ourselves by our own work and sweat, we accomplish nothing. But Jesus Christ, by his sacrificial death on the cross; by pouring out his holy and innocent blood on our behalf, has paid for our sins and earned for us the title of God's Children. On account of his death, God declares us righteous. On account of his resurrection, he restores and renews our hearts.
In baptism, we are joined to Christ in his death and buried with him in his burial. In baptism, he comes to dwell in us and gives us a new heart, a heart of love and holiness. In the Lord's Supper he nourishes us, strengthens the bond of love between him and us and between us and our neighbor. In word and sacrament his grace towards us abounds more and more, and we are filled more and more with his goodness and the fruits of his Spirit. The life and death of Christ become our life and death when we hear his word preached and receive the sacraments. We are joined to him and he dwells in us. And this union between us and Jesus means that by the work of the Holy Spirit, our lives start to become like his. We begin to to act like Christ, to think like Christ, and to love others like Christ loves us. That sinful heart from which all sin and evil proceed is changed into a new heart in our baptism. And so, just as evil deeds that defile us come from the sinful heart, from the new heart come the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Jesus invites you: repent of your sin and all the works of unrighteousness that are produced in your sinful heart and which defile you. Jesus has paid for your sin. He has given you a new, holy heart. You are now called the sons of God so live like children of God. Put off the works of the flesh, put on love and peace and patience and goodness and humility and faithfulness. For out of the heart restored by Jesus come such works as these. Amen.