MPC 6th November 2005.Mark 7:1-23 - "Jesus: Nothing about Religion"
Phil Campbell MPC 6th November 2005.
If you're here today for the first time, it may be for a number of reasons.
You might have just moved to the area. Walking past, and you've just dropped in. It might be you've been meaning to come to church for months, and this is the day you've just happened to do it.
Or it may be that you've been invited by a friend. Or a neighbour. Or a family member. Because as we've said already this morning, today is what we call open church. Our open day. When we've encouraged people to go out on a limb and invite someone new to church.
It is going out on a limb. Because sometimes it seems like inviting someone to come to church is a pretty high risk thing to do. I mean, even owning up to the fact you're connected with a church these days is to invite ridicule. Or maybe suspicion. That you're some kind of religious crackpot. Or crank.
And if the person you're with today went out on a limb and invited you along, at the very least you've got to admire their guts for doing it. And maybe the good news is, if you've come along, it means you know your friend well enough to know that maybe they don't fit all the negative stereotypes that Christians are surrounded with.
And your Christian neighbour is not actually Ned Flanders on the Simpsons. But a caring friend.
The fact remains, though, and research has confirmed it, that by and large Australians have a very negative view of religion.
Religion is something that gets rammed down your throat when you're at boarding school. Sometimes, in past generations, with the sort of harsh discipline that borders on abuse.
In fact, that sort of connection, that sort of negative association runs right through Australia's history. Louise and I went down to Port Arthur a couple of months ago. The Penal Settlement. And we looked around the ruins of the old church there. Just across the fields from the cell blocks. And prisoners were forced to attend. And whipped if they didn't.
Religion was part of the rehabilitation process.
Religion was something you had to suffer. Like medicine. Or a dose of salts.
Religion was something that was publicly tolerated. And privately resented. And religion was part of the power structure that kept things ordered and controlled.
Or at the very least, religion was that class you had to sit through in school on a Friday afternoon with the teacher everyone laughed at. Who could never discipline the class, so it turned into a farce.
Australians have a very negative view of the institutionalised church. With the robes, with the rituals. With the endless rules.
And maybe that's been your experience too. That every time you bump into what's labelled as Christianity, it's always so negative. There's always a rule. There's always something you're not meant to be doing. Like dancing. Or drinking alcohol. Or mowing the lawn on a Sunday.
Well, this morning our topic is Jesus - nothing about religion.
And if you've got a distaste for the sort of religion I've just been talking about, you might be surprised to find out Jesus agrees with you.
I'm not kidding. And to show you that this morning, I want to take you back to the primary sources. To the words of the bible.
On your way in this morning, I hope you got a booklet. That looks like the one on the screen.
It's a copy of the gospel of Mark, which makes up part of the New Testament. And it very simply and very directly tells the life-story of Jesus.
We're going to dip in to a few pages this morning, that are going to illustrate what Jesus thought of the sort of religion we've just been talking about. And what religious people thought of Jesus.
It's surprising.
Can I say from the start, if you don't have a bible at home that's easy to read, we're going to invite you to keep the copy you're holding. Especially if you're visiting.
We are hoping if you're a regular here, you've got a bible at home already. And you can hand it back at the door at the end. But especially if you're here today for the first time, keep it. You might even like to somehow mark the pages we're going to look at... so you can come back to them later.
It's kind of ambitious I guess if you've come along this morning and you're not regularly part of the church thing... kind of ambitious that I'm going to invite you to flip through these pages of the New Testament, and become an expert on Jesus and religion. I'll give you the page numbers. And I'll ask you to flip through and read the sections with me that we'll highlight. And there are four or five different places we'll touch down as we follow the story through.
The ideal thing to do if you take your copy home, is to read all 68 pages. The whole story. But for now, I want you to come with me to page 7. And pick up what's happening.
Here's Jesus, and already by page 7 of the story, he's wandering around the very religious nation of Israel, and he's making a splash. He's teaching about God. He's healing people's illnesses. But in the very religious nation of Israel, that doesn't mean he's welcome.
Because already, he's breaking all the rules.
For starters, he's mixing with all the wrong people. Mixing with people that you wouldn't be seen with... If you were properly religious.
And it's kind of like that, isn't it? And maybe you've even had your eyebrows singed with that sort of disapproval that some religious people seem to radiate.
Like my friend once who turned up to a church in jeans. And everyone else was in their Sunday best. He said it was all the guy at the door would do to let him come in.
So come with me to page 7. In fact, the very bottom sentence on page 6. Jesus is having dinner at Levi's house. And Levi is a tax collector. Which back then was the pits, because tax collectors worked for Rome, which was an occupying power. Worse than that it says at the top of page 7, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
And look at the reaction. There's a little number 16 for easy reference. If you're new to finding your way round in the bible, they're called verse numbers. The religious elite are watching. And they're complaining.
When the teachers of the Law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
These Pharisees, they're a political party back then, and they're basically the religious elite. They're the decent, upstanding most religious members of society. And they like to call the shots for everyone else.
"Why does Jesus eat with people like that?"
To which Jesus says in verse 17, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, is it? But the sick. I haven't come to call the righteous. But sinners."
And I'd like to have heard his tone of voice. Because I'm almost sure he's not saying that the self righteous Pharisees are okay. And yet he is saying, that sort of religious self righteousness isn't what he came for.
There's more. Turn over to page 8.
Because you'll see there it's the sabbath day. Saturday. The Jewish day of rest. And if there's one thing the Pharisees had rules about, it was what you could do on the sabbath. God said in the Old Testament, on the seventh day, have a rest. The holiday is on me. And imagine how good it was. You work six days, and God says, day seven, take a break. Down tools.
The Pharisees, of course, being extremely religious, wanted to nail it down with rules.
And so they did. They made a list of regulations on what exactly tools were. And what exactly work was. And how far you could walk on the Sabbath day without it being counted as work.
So what happens if you're strolling through a paddock and you pick a few grains of wheat to chew on? My dad used to grow wheat. What you'd do, you'd pick a few heads and then rub them together in your hand and the husks would rub off and you'd blow across your little handful of grains to separate them from the husks; then chew on them. Which I've got to say didn't ever taste that great. Dad used to call it farmers chewing gum. Just that it I always preferred PK. Which may well be why I didn't end up a farmer.
But here's Jesus, verse 23 on page 8, and it's the same situation. They're going through the grainfields; Jesus with his disciples. They're picking some heads of grain. And you'll notice it's the sabbath.
And here are the Pharisees again. The religion police. They're watching his every move. And they say to him, look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.
Not that they're stealing some bloke's heads of wheat. Nobody minded that. But they're working on the rest day.
And so Jesus is in trouble.
Keep reading. It gets worse. Because in the very next sentence you've got the start of chapter 3. Which is that larger number in the margin. And there's more trouble.
Chapter 3 verse 1, Jesus turns up at the synagogue. He's coming to church. And again, it's the sabbath day.
There's a guy there with a deformed hand; withered and useless. And again, the religion police are watching. They're looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they're watching him closely to see if he'll heal the guy with the withered hand on the Sabbath Day.
Because, you see, to heal someone would be work, wouldn't it? And you're not allowed to work on the sabbath.
Read along and see what happens. From verse 3.
Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
When it comes to the crunch, Jesus wants nothing to do with the Pharisees' rules and religion.
And they want nothing to do with Jesus. To the point where they plan to kill him.
Jesus and that sort of rule based repressive pomp and ceremony sort of religion, they're like oil and water. They just don't mix.
You'll see why if you turn over again to page 25.
And you've almost got to ask if Jesus is just offending them on purpose. Because one thing you've gotta know about the Jewish religion, they were almost manic about ritual washings. As if washing the dirt from the body could somehow make you more presentable to God.
And so they had rules. Wash when you've been to the market. Wash when you bump into a gentile. Wash when you're having a meal. Not just your quick scrub for hygiene. But a full ritual washing. With a ceremony.
And believe it or not, Jesus and his disciples are not doing it. The Pharisees can't believe it. So verse 5 on page 25, they ask Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?"
To which Jesus gives a very interesting answer that you can read later. But an answer to the effect that God's actually far more interested in what's in our hearts. Than what's on our hands. That the problem we've got in God's eyes runs far deeper than a bit of surface dirt.
And all the religious traditions in the world don't help a bit. In fact, they obscure it. Page 26. Turn over and see what he says. Because he nails it. Verse 13. "Thus you nullify," he says, "thus you cancel out the word of God by your tradition that you've handed down. And you do many things like that."
Jesus turns to the crowd, and he says, listen to this. He says in verse 15, "Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it's what comes out of a man that makes him unclean."
And that's exactly the problem. Don't know about you. But it's true with me. Jesus goes on to list the sort of stuff he's talking about. And it's true. And who'd be thick enough to think a few ritual washings could fix the mess that's on the inside of the human heart? That's where the unclean-ness comes from.
Can you see, Jesus has got no time at all for that sort of external ritual washing type religion. That's so tied to appearances.
That's not what he's on about at all.
Which makes it all the more ironic when you look at how things have panned out the last two thousand years, doesn't it? As if we just don't get it. As the years go by and the humble church meeting houses become cathedrals with ornate stonework and the humble church leaders who'd been followers of the humble Jesus start wearing purple robes and gold chains and lacework and frills. So beautiful on the outside.
And yet completely missing what Jesus came to do on the inside.
Which is what we need to spend a moment thinking about. Because the question is, if Jesus didn't come to start an organised religion of robes and rituals and endless lists of rules, if Jesus kept poking holes in that stuff, what exactly did he come for?
We're nearly there. Come with me to page 41. It's Mark chapter 10. And we're going to find a great statement from Jesus that spells out what he came to achieve.
We left the Pharisees a few moments ago plotting Jesus death. They're determined to be rid of him.
The great irony is, and the conundrum that's right at the heart of the Christian message, the profound sting in the tail is that his death is exactly what Jesus has come for. He's actually a volunteer. In an incredible exchange. An exchange that was meant to be a model for all time of what Christianity was going to look like.
Take a careful look at what's going on from the top of page 41. Because two of the disciples, James and John, are trying to queue jump. Two of the disciples, James and John, come to him and say, teacher, we want you to do us a favour.
He says, "What is it?"
And they sidle up to to him and they drop their voices and they say in verse 37, they say, we know you're headed for great things. They say let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.
When you make it to the big time... save us the best seats. Dressed in all the finery. So people bow down to us.
And Jesus says, you've missed the point. That's not what it's about.
And here's why. So Jesus spells it out in detail. Verse 42, further down the page.
He says, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, the non-Jews, lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Well, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the son of man..." he's talking about himself... "for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve... and to give his life... as a ransom. For many."
Can you see the mission statement there? The thing he's come for? Not to set up a system with cathedrals and stained glass windows and men who wear dresses. He says I came... to give my life... as a ransom for many.
The Pharisees are plotting to take his
life.
Jesus is plotting to give it.
And as he does, he says, it's going to be like a ransom payment. It's going to be an incredible act of service. He's going to die under the curse of God; in place of others.
This long awaited king of the Israelites... is going to die in their place. And as he does that, pays all the consequences of the sinfulness of humanity. And washes away the real dirt. That's on the inside. When it comes to God's punishment on sin, Jesus says, take me instead. And have a whole new start.
We've got one last stopping point. If you're still with me on the page flipping, it's over to page 64. If you're planning to read through the whole of Mark's gospel later on, I don't want to spoil the ending.
But the very top of page 64, it plays out exactly the way he said. He's been tried unjustly. The Pharisees and the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law, all the religious heavyweights who were out to get him, they make false accusations that he was making threats against the temple. And they hand him over to the Roman governor and say, kill him.
And so verse 24 says they crucified him. Which is the most offensive form of capital punishment you can imagine. Designed to be slow. Designed to be excruciatingly painful. In fact, that's where the word excruciating actually comes from. It literally means ex-crucifyingly.
And people going past are mocking him. Including the teachers of the law and the chief priests in verse 31. Read what it says. "In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. He saved others, but he can't save himself. Let this Christ," verse 32, "this king of Israel come down now from the Cross, that we may see... and believe." And even the guys crucified with him... are heaping insults on him.
But of course, he stays on the cross. Because that's what he came for. If you read back through the rest of the booklet in detail, there's no doubt Jesus could have come down from the Cross and saved himself. But that's not what he came for. He came to stay on the cross. And die. As a ransom for others. Like you and me.
And as he dies that ransom death... he's facing the penalty for sin. Exactly so we don't have to.
Which again, blows every effort to be religious out of the water. Because everything that's needed to make us right with God, it's already been done.
So instead of being religious people, who are somehow making our way up the pecking order, we're simply forgiven people.
Instead of being self righteous people who are trying to impress, we're simply and humbly forgiven people.
Instead of being pompous people we'll be ransomed people. Incredibly thankful for the sacrifice of the one who made himself a servant. And gave his life as a ransom for many.
Folks, I want to say to you this morning, if I could apologise for the way things have gone these last two thousand years, I would. But let's not let the way religion has gone deflect us from looking clearly at Jesus.
And I want to challenge you to do that further. Take home the copy of Mark's gospel that you're holding. And read it. Cover to cover.
There's even a study guide in the back to help you think things through. And if you'd like someone to help you do that, we've got plenty of people who'd be delighted to do that in a non-judgemental easy going sort of way. Because that's actually the sort of church we want to be.
It's great you've been with us this morning. And even though we've called this our open week, the fact is, you're welcome any week at all. We'd love to see you back. As every week we look at the bible together, and think through what it means to follow Jesus. Not for the sake of being religious. But for the sake of being real.
We'd love you to join us again.