Their Worship of Me is Empty

Strong but oh-so-important words from Jesus.

Today’s is another longer passage. But man, oh man…is it a word for today.

There are inputs in life and there are outputs.

Probably, that is too simplistic. But it is a good way to begin thinking concerning how we go about living…what the efforts are we put in each day.

The Pharisees - and many believers today - have this assumption that if we just get the inputs correct, the outputs will be, too. Jesus dismisses this. Unequivocally.

They honor me with their lips, but…their worship of me is empty.

Maybe the music’s tight. Maybe the atmosphere is aesthetically perfect. Maybe the lyrics are theologically sound. Maybe people are crying, moved the inspiration of…something.

But this does not mean we are doing what God has required.

So Jesus doesn’t start with aesthetics, or even with outward behaviors. He starts with the heart — not the feelings we associate with worship, but the will that chooses humility, repentance, justice, and mercy. When our hearts are open and clean,¹ the outputs might actually start to look like the kingdom.

Jesus isn’t saying the outputs don’t matter. In fact, he makes it clear that the things we say and do — what comes out of us — are the very things that defile us. But those actions aren’t disconnected from our hearts; they are the evidence of them. This is why just getting the inputs right won’t fix us. What we need is transformation — from the inside out.

Mark 7:1-23

The Pharisees and some legal experts from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. They saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean hands. (They were eating without first ritually purifying their hands through washing. The Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat without first washing their hands carefully. This is a way of observing the rules handed down by the elders. Upon returning from the marketplace, they don’t eat without first immersing themselves. They observe many other rules that have been handed down, such as the washing of cups, jugs, pans, and sleeping mats.) So the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why are your disciples not living according to the rules handed down by the elders but instead eat food with ritually unclean hands?”

He replied, “Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you hypocrites. He wrote,

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me.
Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human words.

You ignore God’s commandment while holding on to rules created by humans and handed down to you.” Jesus continued, “Clearly, you are experts at rejecting God’s commandment in order to establish these rules. Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death. But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you is corban (that is, a gift I’m giving to God),” then you are no longer required to care for your father or mother.’ In this way you do away with God’s word in favor of the rules handed down to you, which you pass on to others. And you do a lot of other things just like that.”

Then Jesus called the crowd again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing outside of a person can enter and contaminate a person in God’s sight; rather, the things that come out of a person contaminate the person.”

After leaving the crowd, he entered a house where his disciples asked him about that riddle. He said to them, “Don’t you understand either? Don’t you know that nothing from the outside that enters a person has the power to contaminate? That’s because it doesn’t enter into the heart but into the stomach, and it goes out into the sewer.” By saying this, Jesus declared that no food could contaminate a person in God’s sight. “It’s what comes out of a person that contaminates someone in God’s sight,” he said. “It’s from the inside, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual sins, thefts, murders, adultery, greed, evil actions, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, insults, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evil things come from the inside and contaminate a person in God’s sight.”

Psalm 52:6-12

And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds! Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me. Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Prayer

God,

I need your grace to get things right. And I need your Spirit to help me want righteousness for the right reasons.

So help me, God.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

1. Don’t miss the strong point made elsewhere, throughout scripture, that a clean heart requires confession and submission to God through grace, repentance, grace, forgiveness, and grace.