Words of Hope

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14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There 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.” 18 Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”

Dear friends, I apologize for the foul language you just had to hear, but sometimes it needs to be said. Plus, I figure that if it is Jesus himself using potty language, then I’m allowed to repeat it. Oh, you could gloss over it I suppose, call it “expelled”, when what He really said would be better served today by “flushed”. But the point must be made. Jesus knows all about latrines, and feces, and filthy excrements. Perhaps that is even more shocking than the words said … Jesus knows all about one of the dirtiest, smelliest, shameful parts of human life.

It is shocking, I suppose, because we are comfortable with a God and Saviour who is removed from such base things. Above such lowly things. Untouched by such dirty things. It is shocking, because even in the latrine, there is nothing hidden from our Lord. He’s been there. He knows. Not even this indignity is hidden from Him.

And that’s the problem isn’t it? If certain things are left unsaid, then there can still be a certain dignity in mixed company. When a kind of distance is kept from objectionable things, nothing rubs off – so to speak. And that’s the problem Jesus was addressing. What God had intended in the beginning to keep them close to Him with hearts and lives prepared for His coming, had turned into little more than an exercise in keeping the filthy masses at a distance, and God as a mere afterthought.

In their dietary rituals, the laws surrounding what foods were considered clean or unclean, the Jews had come to distance themselves from objectionable others. They were like the proverbial fellow who thinks that their biffy doesn’t stink. They were just used to the smell, that’s all. You see, Jesus said: it was not the food entering the mouth that made a man unclean, but the man’s disregard of the Levitical law given him as a Jew by God. Especially, when they tried to use their own hollow version of such against the very one to whom the Old Testament statutes pointed.

(Colossians 2:16-17) Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. The Old testament dietary laws are transcended now that the saviour has come. They were no longer needed. That which they pointed to – prepared for – has now come! And He knows when something doesn’t smell right. And He’s not afraid to say so!

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The fundamental difference, you see, is how we view the natural condition of the human heart. Many of us, (like Pharisees) would like to think that man has a basically “good disposition” and a free will to choose what is good. A person is only corrupted by forces from the outside. Keep yourself clear, clean yourself up, and you will come out smelling like roses. But according to Jesus the truth doesn’t smell so sweet. Man’s heart is by nature sinful and unclean, in all that it seeks to do and all that it allows to remain undone. There is no need for an outside source of contamination, our heart is already corrupted by original sin.

It is a somber picture of all mankind, Christians included. Christians still have flesh, still struggle with sin. How often must not a Christian confess with Paul: “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” There are those in our society who believe that the primary way to improve man is to clean his environment and remove the pollution which might enter and befoul a man. But Christianity teaches that God cleanses our hearts by faith (Acts 15:9) and so the Christian must regularly pray: “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God.” (Psalm 51:10)

Jesus knows all about one of the dirtiest, smelliest, shameful parts of human life. And that is why He came, why he sometimes uses graphic language. Because sometimes all you can do is open a window and air things out. Sometimes only a deep scrub and a thorough cleaning will do! Jesus scrubbed us clean, even though it meant being covered by all our filth. (Titus 3:4-7) But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

That which enters into us cannot defile us, but sometimes it can cleanse us of the filth that is already there. Especially, when that which is going in is from God! With the holy waters of Baptism He cleanses our lives of all the foulness that once was, regenerating and renewing our hearts by placing the Holy Spirit Himself within them.

And from that day onward, He does not cease to fill our lives with gifts that cleanse and nourish this new found life in Christ. (John 15:3) Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Time and again, God gives us His Holy Word placed into our ears and upon our lips, pressed into our hearts, ready at our fingertips. In preaching and reading, in study and prayer. As we share it with our children and with one another, it is doing what we cannot – turning the latrines of our human hearts into a garden of faith and delight. A sweet smelling sacrifice to God a life lived in the Word of God and prayer.

And where this amazing transformation has been worked by God’s Holy Gospel that which once was an assault on our personal dignity, and an ugly little truth no one could ever speak of (that I am a sinner – stinky to the core), has now become rich fertilizer for growing god-pleasing fruit. I don’t need to hide it anymore. I don’t need to isolate myself from others in shame or revulsion. I can be open the window of my soul and air things out a little. For I am a sinner – forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus. I am a sinner forgiven to the core.

I know such language is distasteful to many, but so be it. Jesus knows it all already. And He doesn’t think any less of me because of it. Nor will He think any less of you, dear sinner.

AMEN.

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God alone is truly without comparison. There is nothing with which to compare God. “Who is Like Our God?” No one, and here’s why: Our God gives us a perfect Law so that we might live and one day come to heaven. (1) “And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you. The Word of God is for us life itself – both here in this world and forever more in the one to come! Where there is God’s Word there is Life, and nowhere else.

Further, we read in Moses’ words that God’s Law is perfect requiring neither addition nor subtraction. (2) You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. It is not for us to shave a few verses from Paul here, or tack on a couple of thoughts from our own personal experience there. God’s Law stands perfectly whole and perfectly adequate just the way He chose to give it to us. And make no mistake about it, what you have in the Bible is what He gave to you … it has not changed one word since the day it was recorded.

Sometimes, however, we have the tendency to doubt these blanket promises of God (after all what can His Word really say to the situation I’m facing here and now?) We sometimes find ourselves doubting that His Word is enough and would rather modify the Law to suit our tastes. Perhaps we add to the law as the Pharisees did. As Mark recorded in our Gospel reading: (Mark 7:3-4) For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.

Where can you find this command in the Law of God? You can’t … not in this way or for those reasons. But a hundred little laws that are easy to keep feel much better to the ears than One single Law that is beyond our abilities to fulfill. You also can’t find a Law against having a glass of beer or wine, playing some cards with friends, or a boy and a girl going out dancing. But you will find them in the teachings of the Pharisees and other religious types that are out to prove something to God and man. These are sentiments that still echo in each one of our human hearts to this day. It is still easier to find a hundred little ways to prove our piety to the world than to actually and fully commit our body, mind, and soul to God. I can give up drinking easier than giving up my free time. I can excluded certain entertainments if that excuses me from all those tiresome commitments that put my wishes behind someone else. I can give up a little bit of me if I don’t have to have all of God all the time!

Or perhaps, in our doubts about God’s perfect Law we tend to subtract from that Law instead, to put it within our grasp. After all, He couldn’t seriously think anyone could live up to all that could He? And so we hear that the action isn’t so important as the intention. Or the action alone is more than enough – just do it whether you want to or not, and it still counts. And it’s not like you even have to do the whole thing – just enough to prove your sincere. Sunday morning values are only binding on Sundays right? In the morning, right? Again in our Old Testament and Gospel (Mark 7:6-8) And he 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; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

We really aren’t very good at keeping God’s Law – not the way He commanded it. Indeed, we are really not so very different from the people of Isaiah’s day or the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. But whether we add a few extra touches of our own, or shave off a few of those nasty rough bits to get some kind of rules for living we like better, God’s Law remains perfectly incorruptible, and condemns us sinners to death. (1) “And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; (6) Keep them and do them; Not just the ones you like, not those others that you find easy. These and no others. These you must keep perfectly. There is a right and a wrong – God’s Word is right and anything else is wrong! Who else do you hear something like this from in our world? No one. For no one is like our God, giving a perfect Law so that we might live, knowing full well that we are perfectly unable to live up to that law and so must die.

But then again, no one is like Our God who gives us a perfect Gospel so that we may live in Christ even after we have died in sin. (7) For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? These words were written through Moses, but fulfilled through Jesus. Our God is near to us Law-breaking sinners in His Son. He is so near to us that he became one of us, not changing the Law but actually fulfilling it perfectly. Nothing added, nothing taken away – everything done perfectly. Jesus kept those righteous judgments handed down by God on the stone tablets and in the scrolls of the Torah. He defeated all temptation, doing not what was easy or to his liking, but that which God demands in the Law – even to the point of dying on the cross to pay for all us law-makers and law-shavers. He is so near to us His death and resurrection assures us of His eternal peace.

Who in all heaven and earth is still yet like our God? No one, for He is near to us even now through His perfect Word and Holy Sacraments 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? While we were yet sinners we were called by Baptism, clothed with Christ and given an inheritance in heaven itself. While we remain law-breakers Christ continues to come to us preaching the Law and His fulfillment of it that our hearts may be strengthened in faith. While we daily struggle with a Law that could kill … should kill, Jesus gives us his own Body and Blood for our life and salvation. A guarantee of forgiveness and everlasting joy at the Lord’s Banquet Table.

So then I ask you again, What other people in the whole world has a God like our God? No one. In Christ, who is near to us, God has made us into a royal priesthood, a holy nation. He has freed us from slavery to sin and paid the debt of the Law. He has freed us in the Gospel to finally see the light. And so we teach and follow this Gospel and we live, and we become a light to the world around us. Like we did for those blessed children in our Vacation Bible School this past week. 6 for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

Who is Like Our God? We are, when we proclaim his Gospel to this hurting world.

AMEN.