Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9 Psalm 15 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8,14-23
One of the things I remember when I arrived at the monastery where I trained for ordination, was being handed a weighty manual of rules for college living. Page after page explained the times to be in church and the times to be in our rooms; when to speak and when to stay silent; when to walk and when to be seated. It taught us what to wear for offices or lessons, and how to clear the tables at the end of mealtimes; ‘swiftly and with dignity’. And while it was pages and pages thick, it could have been summed up really concisely; love God, care for your fellow ordinands and tutors, and follow the traditions of those who have been here longer.
In today’s gospel reading we find a similar kind of discussion. The pharisees and some of the scribes are surprised to find that Jesus’ disciples aren’t keeping the purity rules of Judaism. They’re not washing their hands, they aren’t following the traditions of their elders, they aren’t scrubbing the produce they bought from the market, and they aren’t scouring the pots and pans.
Jesus tells them God does not care for human traditions. He replaces the rule book by saying, ‘there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile’. God does not care for clean hands, washed vegetables and scrubbed cooking utensils. God cares about the human heart. Jesus goes on to say, ‘it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: [and then lists them]. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
You see, it’s not that God doesn’t care about purity. God really does. But the purity God is concerned with is purity of the heart, and that is much bigger, much deeper.
Let me say that again; God cares about the state of our hearts. Or, as St James says, in the epistle we just heard, ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world’. Keep your hearts clean, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in meeting the needs of the world.
God is concerned with the state of our hearts, because from our hearts can come evil and wickedness or love and worship and care for those in need. Actually, the truth is much more nuanced. It is more likely that all these things come from our hearts at one time or another – we need to pay attention to wheedling out that which is not from God and cultivating that which is Godly, pure and worthwhile. Clean hearts, dirty hands.
The work required on our own hearts is lifelong and requires commitment and attention. What in me is good? Let’s do more of that, be more of that.
What in me is not good, what is defiled? Let me get that out, give it to God, repent, turn around and make purposeful steps away from it. That takes time and effort. It doesn’t happen by accident, and it is important. Don’t worry about your hands or food or containers – the germs and goodness from all that will end up in the sewer anyway – worry about your heart. Focus on your heart. Give me your heart, let’s work together on that, says God.
And maybe that sounds terrifying to you – certainly uncomfortable, maybe a bit invasive, vulnerable-making? Washing hands, food and pans is one thing but washing my heart – allowing God to wash clean my heart – what will God find there? What have I hidden there even from myself?! What will be exposed? How loveable am I if the whole of my heart is known? Keeping purity laws is much easier but now you’re saying God wants to purify my heart?
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As I was thinking about this passage this week I got an email from the Australian musician, writer and actor, Nick Cave. He sends out sporadic emails to his mailing list called the Red Hand Files. People write in with questions and he chooses one or two to answer each time. They vary from things like ‘do you ever worry about being on the wrong side of history’ to ‘what is joy and where is it?’ and anything in between. Nothing is off limits, he says, and his responses are often insightful, poignant, witty, wise.
This week he answered a question from a British Poet who wrote a poem with the same title as Cave’s latest album. As he shared the poem I found that it spoke, somehow, to this passage. It is called Sometimes a Wild God. You can read it in full online but here is an excerpt…
Sometimes a Wild God.
Sometimes a wild god comes to the table.
He is awkward and does not know the ways
Of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver.
His voice makes vinegar from wine.
When the wild god arrives at the door,
You will probably fear him.
He reminds you of something dark
That you might have dreamt,
Or the secret you do not wish to be shared.
He will not ring the doorbell;
Instead he scrapes with his fingers
Leaving blood on the paintwork,
Though primroses grow
In circles round his feet.
You do not want to let him in
You are very busy.
It is late, or early, and besides…
You cannot look at him straight
Because he makes you want to cry.
Your dog barks;
The wild god smiles.
He holds out his hand and
The dog licks his wounds,
Then leads him inside.
The wild god stands in your kitchen.
Ivy is taking over your sideboard;
Mistletoe has moved into the lampshades
And wrens have begun to sing
an old song in the mouth of your kettle.
‘I haven’t much,’ you say
And give him the worst of your food.
[It goes on, but it ends like this…]
Sometimes a wild god comes to the table.
He is awkward and does not know the ways
Of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver.
His voice makes vinegar from wine
And brings the dead to life.
We worship a wild God and that wild God is way more concerned with the state of our heart than our hands. May we make our hearts clean and not be afraid to get our hands dirty. Amen.
Holy Adventures 