It really kind of feels like the disciples are getting attacked for a pretty minor infraction in our gospel today, isn’t it? After all, it’s not harming anybody else that they may not have properly washed their hands before eating. But it’s sometime that the Pharisees are able to point to in order to attempt to assert their own power once again. After all, rituals of cleanliness are an important part of Hebrew culture. To ignore them really wasn’t a good look. It’s kind of like how I feel whenever one of my kids gets down from the dinner table, and I don’t hear the sink before they come rushing back to finish their food. Just gives me kind of an icky feeling, right? And maybe that’s what the Pharisees were going for – to give the community an icky feeling when it comes to Jesus and his followers. And we know that it really has little to do with Jesus’ followers. It has everything to do with Jesus. The Pharisees are using his followers to tear down Jesus’ clout just a little bit.
You know, I can’t count the number of times somebody has said something to or at me that was meant to tear me down. And that’s just when I worked in retail. Sometimes they’re the thoughtless remarks of somebody who doesn’t really know me. Sometimes they’re much more carefully measured and delivered. But most of the time, the remarks made about me say more about the speaker than they do about me. Jesus is noting something similar in our gospel reading today. Because Jesus sees what the Pharisees are doing in our gospel today. They aren’t really concerned about Jesus’ disciples eating without washing – not really. What they’re really concerned with is finding ways to make Jesus look a little bad. And the Pharisees don’t seem to care who gets caught in the cross-fire.
And that’s where they seem to lose the plot. Because the criticisms the Pharisees offer today don’t build up anybody. They’re meant to discredit and to destroy. And Jesus – by challenging the concept of what it means to be defiled – calls them out on their hypocrisy.
Because Jesus understands – and so do the Pharisees, by the way – the purpose of the Law is for the sake of the community. The Law is designed for health and well being, and cleanliness is indeed a part of that, but that isn’t the purpose of the Pharisees in their challenge. Jesus knows it. And because for the Pharisees the purpose is truly to harm Jesus’ reputation, they are harming community far more grievously than anything Jesus’ disciples have done.
This is the primary focus of what Jesus is challenging today – this idea that external forces define us. Jesus recognizes that what really defines us – what really causes harm in our communities – is the stuff that comes from within. It’s the malice in our hearts that defiles. It’s the carelessness, the disregard, the jealousy, the greed. Those are the things that really defile. Because when they come out, they rarely are concerned with the welfare of our neighbor. And truth be told, we are all beholden to these things from time to time. We are all captive to sin, as we spoke earlier today, and when we are captive to sin, there are times where the worst of us comes out.
This is where the Pharisees find themselves today – with the worst of themselves coming out. When they are busy nitpicking the petty instead of encouraging the disciples to find ways to live into the Law more fully, they are giving way to envy. I wonder what Jesus response to the Pharisee’s critique would have been if they had begun instead with an offer to help the disciples – if the Pharisees had instead said to Jesus, “We notice your disciples did not have enough cleansing bowls to all properly wash before the meal – and they were hungry from their journey so of course it was unreasonable to make them wait. Can we offer some additional tools to cleanse for the journey ahead?” How would the hospitality at the core of the critique changed Jesus’ response? How might it have revealed the heart of who these Pharisees are in a different light?
Family of God, so much of our world is affected by what our first reaction is to things that might offend us. When our first reaction is judgment and anger, our response so often is such that our community is defiled by what comes after. When our first reaction is patience and a seeking to understand, how might our community be built up and restored? I don’t have to tell you that responses of compassion have a more positive impact. We see it every day. We hear stories of lives changed through the compassionate work of our congregation and others through i-Help. We hear the good news of children who receive words of encouragement through the kind words passed on through sticky notes. We celebrate offering space for our community to support each other and cheer each other on.
The challenge of Jesus today for the Pharisees is a challenge for us as well. Because there are still times where we’d be more than happy to judge others to make ourselves feel better about ourselves – if only for a little while. Much like the insecurity and jealousy of the Pharisees was revealed by their words today, so too are our feelings of insecurity and judgment. What do we reveal about ourselves when we are confronted with these feelings? What do we say and what do we do when we feel the hurt that we all have bubbling up inside?
People of hope, I don’t have a cure-all for those moments where our sin comes out first. It’s going to happen. Because we all sin, we all fall short. But we are still today and every day called to live into our name – to live into being people of hope who hope for the best, hope for a future even when we have moments when we disagree, even when we have moments where judgment wants to take the reins. So I encourage you today, much like Jesus challenged us, don’t let our hearts hold to the bad. Don’t let sin be the last word. Sometimes it will be the first word. Sometimes it happens. But may our last word, may those things that finally and ultimately come out of our mouths this day and every day be words of hope, words of life, words of encouragement and joy so that as we leave this space, as we continue in relationship together in this space and with others in the world – whenever we part, we part knowing first and foremost Christ’s love, Christ’s grace, and Christ’s peace which is made for all people, even if we’re not so sure they deserve it in that moment. Because it comes from God. And if it comes from God, it’s not ours to withhold, but is meant to be shared – to come forth – from all of us freely for the sake of a world that desperately needs good news and good words of love.