Tag: impurity

Divine Intervention (Isaiah 1:24-31)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1796-1964)

So now, listen to what the Lord Almighty, Israel’s powerful God, is saying: “I will take revenge on you, my enemies, and you will cause me no more trouble. I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity. I will give you rulers and advisers like those you had long ago. Then Jerusalem will be called the righteous, faithful city.”

Because the Lord is righteous, he will save Jerusalem and everyone there who repents. But he will crush everyone who sins and rebels against him; he will kill everyone who forsakes him.

You will be sorry that you ever worshiped trees and planted sacred gardens. You will wither like a dying oak, like a garden that no one waters. Just as straw is set on fire by a spark, so powerful people will be destroyed by their own evil deeds, and no one will be able to stop the destruction. (Good News Translation)

Judgment does not mean that you need to leave a part of yourself behind in order to be accepted or belong. Judgment isn’t about stuffing down emotions and denying certain thoughts about things because you were told to.

Rather, judgment – divine judgment – is for those leaders, and the persons who support such leaders, who tell people they have to live a particular way, be a certain way, and think in the same way the leaders say you have to think.

Isaiah’s prophecy is first and foremost directed toward leaders – political leaders and religious leaders. Indeed, the nation of Israel had gone down a path of worship that God never condoned nor wanted.

And the Lord put the primary blame squarely upon rulers who led their people in unacceptable ways by telling them things that God never wanted. As a result, the nation as a whole, lived unjustly and unrighteously.

God was determined to do something about the situation of bad leadership: Replace the rulers and advisers. Get rid of them, just like a metallurgist gets rid of impure and worthless dross.

A lot of things in life rise and fall because of leadership. The character and competence of a leader is of upmost importance. God raises up particular people to lead. So, leaders and rulers are expected to fulfill their mandated duty with all diligence and decorum.

The city of Jerusalem fell to the invading Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. All of the Old Testament prophetic books are related to that seminal event in one way or another.

Jerusalem’s destruction, according to the prophets, had a direct relationship to the failure of political kings and religious priests to lead the people according to God’s law. And that failure was specifically tied to the lack of religious piety and leadership performance amongst the rulers of the land.

Indeed, individuals are responsible for their own thoughts and words and actions. Yet, at the same time, the leaders of a city and a nation are also responsible for whether they are leading the people into ways of justice and equity, or injustice and prejudice.

People in responsible positions of authority are to take ownership of the sort of culture they develop. And when people, as a whole, have rude and irresponsible words and actions, such behavior isn’t only on individuals – it’s on the leaders, as well.

God will hold everyone accountable – especially leaders = for what they have done, and not done, to foster a just and right society.

In the time of the prophets, the majority of those in authority led the people into a degenerate state. It had become so bad that divine judgment would intervene in order to burn out the evil, and remove the worthless dross of incompetent and inconsiderate leadership.

Only through the wholesale replacement of rulers and advisers could restoration and regeneration ever take place.

Fortunately, the Lord is a God of justice, mercy, and grace. The Lord is a redeeming God. And the theme of redemption runs throughout the Book of Isaiah. Yet, for a nation to be redeemed, it will require an elimination of rebellious evil.

The wrath of God exists precisely because of the love of God. Since the Lord has a steadfast, committed, and covenantal love for the people, God will render judgment, purging hate and injustice from the land.

When God decrees something, no one can stop it. And when God decrees destruction upon the material things which promote illegitimate worship and public injustice, you can be absolutely sure that it’s going to happen.

No one, no city, and no nation is truly autonomous, in the sense that they can do whatever the heck they want to do, regardless of whether it is right or just, or not. There is no person and no government who is free to indulge in their own selfish agenda.

We have a purpose and a mandate as people on this earth, to care for this world – the people and the environments we inhabit.

All of the ways in which individuals, groups, and governments cheapen and degrade human dignity and environmental worth, puts everyone at risk of survival and a good life on this planet.

Unjust and dysfunctional systems and structures must be purged of their impurities. And that means, in many cases, a new order of things must occur.

If we cannot learn to play well with one another, then playtime will be over; and God will call us back into the house and make us sit in the corner for a long time – or worse.

Whenever leadership fails to be neighborliness, then we have a huge problem.

Our world suffering divine devastation of all the things we know and love may not be far behind. And, quite frankly, it will be our own damn fault – and not somebody else’s.

However, in the prophetic biblical tradition, devastation and destruction never have the last word. There is always hope – a confident expectation that good, right, and just forms of social, economic, and religious communities will function yet again.

There are good leaders waiting in the wings. It’s just that no one yet sees or knows them. But God will raise them up at the proper time, to accomplish good purposes in communities, churches, families, and governments everywhere.

A divine intervention will make the last be first, and the first be last.

May it be so, for the blessing of the world, and to the glory and praise of God. Amen.

Wise Living Is Clean Living (Proverbs 15:1-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.

When wise people speak, they make knowledge attractive, but stupid people spout nonsense.

The Lord sees what happens everywhere; he is watching us, whether we do good or evil.

Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit.

It is foolish to ignore what your parents taught you; it is wise to accept their correction.

Righteous people keep their wealth, but the wicked lose theirs when hard times come.

Knowledge is spread by people who are wise, not by fools.

The Lord is pleased when good people pray, but hates the sacrifices that the wicked bring him.

The Lord hates the ways of evil people, but loves those who do what is right.

If you do what is wrong, you will be severely punished; you will die if you do not let yourself be corrected.

Not even the world of the dead can keep the Lord from knowing what is there; how then can we hide our thoughts from God?

Conceited people do not like to be corrected; they never ask for advice from those who are wiser.

When people are happy, they smile, but when they are sad, they look depressed.

Intelligent people want to learn, but stupid people are satisfied with ignorance.

The life of the poor is a constant struggle, but happy people always enjoy life.

Better to be poor and fear the Lord than to be rich and in trouble.

Better to eat vegetables with people you love than to eat the finest meat where there is hate. (Good News Translation)

Here is today’s Proverbs lesson in my own colloquial words:

A calm and kind response sucks the anger out of the room, but hot-headed words set the place on hellfire.

A level-headed person gives helpful answers, but a know-it-all only keeps on babbling nonsense.

Just because you cannot see God, doesn’t mean that God cannot see you, both the good and the bad.

Kind words given to another person are life-giving, but unkind words catapulted at a person ends up crushing their spirit.

You can tell a fool by how their refusal to accept counsel from their parents, but a wise person freely receives parental instruction.

Wise folk understand they need to save for a rainy day, but fools spend everything they have, then wonder why they’re in dire straits.

Wisdom and common sense are akin to one another; foolishness and nonsense are two peas in a pod.

The Lord perks up when the righteous pray, but does a face palm when the wicked offer up anything.

The ways of evil people make the Lord nauseous, but the way of the righteous is delightful to God.

A stupid dog doesn’t live very long, because he won’t heed his training or learn from any natural consequences.

If God can see everything that goes on with death and destruction, why would not the Lord see all things within your own heart?

Prickly people won’t listen to advice, and they refuse to consult anyone when making decisions.

Truthful persons smile when they’re happy and frown when they’re sad, but falsehood smiles when it’s sad and frowns when it’s happy.

Learners are curious about life, but ignorant folk only feed on tabloid information.

Once in survival mode, it’s hard to ever get out of it; but those who thrive have learned how to be content in any circumstance.

It’s a whole lot better to be poor and right with God, than to be rich and on the wrong side of the Lord.

Peanut butter sandwiches eaten on the floor with love are much more delicious than eating a filet mignon with hatred around the table.

Our words reflect what is truly the attitude of our heart. And our attitudes betray what we actually think about God and others.

If you drop a foolish person into a roomful of people, it’s like putting a rotten egg in with the rest of the eggs when making an omelet. Or, to put it according to an old adage, “One bad apple spoils the whole bushel basket of them.”

This is why it’s the responsibility of everyone to develop wisdom and a virtuous life. A faith community, a neighborhood, a workplace, a family, or any group of people are adversely affected whenever there’s one arrogant fool amongst them.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16, NIV)

It only takes one drop of arsenic to ruin a gallon of water and make it undrinkable. And if you choose to drink it anyway, well, you’ll suffer the consequences.

And this is why purity of heart, righteousness, justice, and goodness are so very important. It’s also why holiness is placed as a premium in Holy Scripture, because impurity ruins the community and defiles any group of people.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:16-18, NIV)

Wise living is clean living, in every sense of a person’s complete self – in body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The Book of Proverbs can help us with that.

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, so that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble. Amen.

From the Heart (Mark 7:9-23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Art by Anna Startseva

Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” (New Living Translation)

There is nothing inherently wrong with tradition. Ideally, traditions are helpful ways of remembering and maintaining the values that are important to us.

Yet, what can happen over time is that the tradition itself can become equal to the value we hold to; and eventually, the tradition can become more important than the value it is supposed to remind us of.

In the worst case scenario, the tradition is kept, and the value is forgotten and lost. Whenever that happens, traditions easily become weaponized to protect our interests while harming others. And that is a phenomenon Jesus wanted nothing to do with.

So, Christ affirmed and upheld the essential purpose of the Torah (scriptural law) as the foundation of morality to live justly and righteously in the world. Keeping Torah, therefore, is a matter of inner motives, and intents of the heart, rather than external compliance to ritualized traditions.

Unfortunately, the outward form had supplanted the inward disposition of the heart. Purity then became a matter of observable rituals, and defilement a matter of failing to do the ritual properly. And the original values behind the rituals were lost – which caused souls to become lost, and other people victimized by religious traditions.

Whether one is ritually clean or unclean is not ultimately determined by material objects; it is, instead, determined by the state of the heart.

Art by Andy Perez

In other words, no outward ritual can ever really make a person clean or unclean, pure or impure, spotless or polluted. Inner transformation is what scrubs a person clean and makes them pure.

Ritual traditions, and even scriptural law itself, is unable to effect a transformative change.

Torah can require purity, cleanness, and moral uprightness; but it cannot affect a metamorphosis. We need something other than traditions, rituals, and laws to bring true and sustainable transformation of life.

I say that it is time to hear and observe Jesus. Millions of people throughout history, and up to the present time, have found in Christ (and not in Christian rituals, traditions, church codes, nor in a political Christendom) the answer and the key to what life is really all about.

Again, there is not a problem with our human traditions per se, but with traditions replacing Torah and the word of God.

Jesus gave an example of just such a contradiction between religious tradition and divine law: According to tradition, if a person makes a vow concerning their property and/or possessions as a gift to God at the temple, then those assets cannot be used to support that person’s parents in their old age.

Christ pointed out that this clearly contradicts the command to honor your father and mother. Ironically, the very tradition that was supposed to purify became the means to contamination – because the tradition forbids the person from obeying the command of God.

In a word picture that everyone could understand, Jesus explained that impurity and defilement have to do with what passes through the heart, not the bowels.

People obey or disobey the Ten Commandments due to the state of their heart, and not whether they keep every detail of traditional washing of the hands and body.

People lack virtue not because they fail to do human traditions; but because of what is in their hearts.

This is why Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, gets to the heart of why people break commands. For example:

  • The outward act of murder is a result of the inward anger of nurturing bitterness in the heart. (Matthew 5:21-22)
  • The physical act of adultery is the culmination of dozens of mental adulteries which originated in the heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

Everything that harms and hurts is sourced in the heart, and not in failing to keep a tradition.

Furthermore, the Gospel writer Mark, added the very interesting parenthetical comment that in speaking this way, Jesus meant to declare that all foods are clean; there is nothing eaten that can make us impure.

That may not seem remarkable to most people, but to Jews this statement is cataclysmic and revolutionary. Levitical law details the separating of clean and unclean food, for the purpose of distinguishing the Israelites from all the other surrounding nations. (Leviticus 11:43-44; 20:24-26)

Holding to food laws, and traditional hand washings when it comes to eating, are a way of preserving religious identity and national identity. Jesus had no intention of doing away with Jewish identity, but he very much intended to do away with maintaining practices that keep strict separation from other people.

In other words, Christ was opening the way for ministry to Gentiles. He wanted to bring connection where there was deep division. He wanted the world to know God.

This gets at the “heart” of true religion. Distinctiveness as God’s people does not necessarily nor ultimately come by observing particular traditions; it comes primarily through purity of heart.

And the means of bringing purity of any kind, comes through love. Love always makes a way and finds connections. Love is the sine qua non mark of God.

Traditions infused with love, point people to God, and let them know that they belong.

But traditions for tradition’s sake, repel people, and communicate to them that they don’t belong, and should go away and not pollute the pure ones.

This approach of Jesus toward the religious leaders raises for me several probing questions:

  1. What is the true state of your heart?
  2. Are you aware of your own heart’s dark shadows?
  3. In what sort of direction is your heart inclined to speak and act?
  4. Does encouragement or criticism typically arise from your heart?
  5. Is love the compass of your heart, or does bitterness give you direction?
  6. Will you acknowledge your need of a savior? Will you ask for help?

Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Make us quick to listen, and slow to speak, so that the Word implanted in our hearts may take root to nourish all of our living. And may the the Word within us overflow into speech and action which blesses the world. Amen.

The Evil Within (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders, and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash, and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds.)So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
    teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

“You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition…”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile…”

For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (New Revised Standard Version)

There are many people who believe that evil resides out there, but not in here.

“Out there” is usually in places where people don’t live like me, think like me, and act like me. Rarely does anyone, when asked where evil is, points to their own heart.

The religious establishment of Christ’s day saw evil as something which existed “out there” where the sinners are; but not “in here” where I am.

Jesus had something to say on that subject. The exchange between the religious leaders and Christ began with a query toward Jesus about Jewish traditions and interpretations of the Mosaic law.

The leaders observed that Christ’s disciples were not holding to traditional purity practices. They were not washing their hands in a certain way prior to eating. This was less of a criticism on the followers of Jesus, and much more an indictment on Jesus as their rabbi.

It was believed that there are customs which properly trained disciples ought to know and follow. And Christ’s followers were not, it was assumed, trained well.

The religious establishment understood the words and ways of Jesus as an affront to the teaching of the elders, and of proper scriptural and legal interpretation.

Jesus, however, made a distinction between traditions of the elders and God’s commands. The former are human precepts, whereas the latter are to be obeyed. In no way did Christ demean Mosaic law, or any commandments of God.

Instead, Jesus rejected how particular interpretations – along with practices which arose from those interpretations – end up obscuring the spirit and intent of the law. In other words, purity does not come from hand washing, because neither purity nor impurity originates from the hands.

Christ reached back into the prophecy of Isaiah to show that there is a contrast between what the mouth utters and what is within the heart. The incongruence between the words spoken and the heart’s true state puts the issue of where impurity and evil really come from: The heart, not the mouth.

Jesus and the Pharisees, by French painter James Tissot (1836-1902)

Evil intentions originate within. Evil actions are animated by the heart. Evil attitudes are born in the heart. The human heart is the place which needs attention because, for ancient people, this is where a person’s rational will is located. It is where moral pollution dwells, deep within.

Let’s keep in mind that, in the verbal kerfuffle between Christ and the religious leaders, there is no evidence that Jesus disregarded Jewish dietary laws. He instead took the religious establishment to task on elevating outward human traditions, while simultaneously ignoring the inward human heart.

Food and hand-washing are not the chief concern, when it comes to purity and impurity. At issue is the source of defilement, that is, where the pollution is sourced. Jesus insisted that it’s more about who you are, and what is in your heart, than it is about the food you eat or avoid.

In truth, the problem of defilement is important. And keeping the Mosaic law is significant. Yet, Jesus was looking at these issues from a different angle. He affirmed the law’s purpose in restraining evil and avoiding impurity, along with the religious leaders. However, Christ disagreed with them on how the law is practically observed and obeyed.

Jesus did not come up with something new or strange in talking about evil emanating from the heart. Judaism is a religion of the heart, just as much as Christianity or any other religion.

The heart is devious above all else;
    it is perverse—
    who can understand it?
I the Lord test the mind
    and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
    according to the fruit of their doings. (Jeremiah 17:9-10, NRSV)

So, what’s up with the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders? Over time, many located evil outside, out there, with evildoers and law-breakers, with those disobedient to the law. Christ came along and reaffirmed where the problem originates, scripturally.

One isn’t defiled by improper handling of ritual; one is defiled because being unaware of, or not acknowledging, the dark shadows which reside within every human heart.

Therefore, the discussion of evil and impurity is useless, if we only talk about influences from outside. Deal, instead, with the influences from within.

The heart is not all bad; there’s a lot of good there. But there are spaces within the heart which are camouflaged in darkness. Those places need attention, before we launch into evil which exists elsewhere.

Everyone must come to the point of understanding that they are capable of both great good and great evil. A Pharisee is not all good. And a lawbreaker is not all bad. Until we can see the commonality between ourselves and those we separate ourselves from, we will continually miss the heart of true religion.

Whether a Jew, Christian, Muslim, or any other religious tradition, we must deal with our own collective house, and our own personal heart. Hate speech toward another group has no warrant from Jesus. Injustice has no place in Christianity or anywhere else.

Furthermore, not a one of us can rationalize any unjust words and/or inactions. If that happens, a terrible blindness has occurred in which someone or some group of people refuse to see their own culpability in evil, and project it outward onto another person or group.

If we keep the light of the gospel in our own hearts, then it is much less likely that we will demean or attack others, either verbally, physically, or both.

Using a self-constructed and janky flashlight to shine on another’s heart does nothing but keep the attention off of our own heart. That sort of dubious searching of splinters helps no one, especially ourselves, who already have nasty logs in our own eyes.

Evil is deeper than mere selfishness, bigger than a personal error in judgment, and greater than some individual bad decisions. That’s because there is also a collective heart in every organization, institution, corporation, and faith community. Injustice and unrighteousness resides in those hearts, as well. This makes all of us – personally and communally – both victims of evil, as well as perpetrators of wickedness.

This is why grace and mercy are the real answers to the evil in this world’s systems, and in the human heart. Jesus is trying to pave the way toward a solution of the problem of evil.

Let’s give him an honest look and hearing.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.