Saying Is Defiling

                                            Matthew 15: 1-20

 

 

          Jesus and the Pharisees engage all throughout Matthew’s gospel in an ongoing debate about the law. The Pharisees are the gatekeepers of the law. They live by the rules. They have rules to interpret the rules. In chapter 15, the rule that the Pharisees are worried about is hand washing. The disciples are breaking with tradition because they have not washed their hands before eating. The Pharisees say that this defiles the disciples. In other words, it makes them unclean. It corrupts them. Jesus says they are at the right source but are focusing on the wrong process. He says that it’s not what goes in that hurts you. Your digestive system will take care of anything the body doesn’t need. Rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth that defiles, and it can be damaging beyond belief.

 Ever played the game “Telephone?” You know how it works. Someone speaks a line to another, then the other repeats it. The process continues for about ten people or so. By the time the message makes it to the end of the line, it barely resembles what it started as. That’s mis-communication. In a game, it can be funny, but in real life, it can be very harmful. Telephone has other names, like rumor, or gossip, or innuendo, or propaganda. It gets so bad that modern law actually recognizes the civil wrongs of slander and libel when such gossip is done with malice or evil intent tp defame someone.

Rumors can be devastating. They don’t have to be true. They usually aren’t, although there is often a grain of truth in them.  And they grow very quickly. Writer Terry Pratchett says that “A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.” And it can do some permanent damage just about as quickly.

How do we become defiled? How do we become corrupted? How is our witness compromised? One way is listening to the wrong people telling half-truths. We are constantly called upon to make choices. Today, we have all sorts and forms of media coverage about current events, entertainment, sports, and a host more of subjects. News is practically instantaneous. We can see buildings burning and missiles exploding half way around the world practically live. We have running commentary to tell us what things mean. We are not required to think for ourselves. The weather man will tell us whether to wear a raincoat or a jacket. The reporter on the scene will tell us how bad it is and interview hurt people about their feelings.

Jesus warned the people about the local religious media. He said that for the sake of tradition they were voiding the very word of God. The Pharisees were so busy applying the letter of the law that they had no time to notice that they were breaking its spirit. The law, given by God as a revelation of who he was and who he wasn’t, a set of guidelines by which God’s people could come to know his love for them, had become nothing more than a rulebook in the hands of the religious leaders.  They preached about corruption, but it was the Pharisees who corrupted God’s word.

Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah. He said that such behavior only paid lip service to God, that real honor comes from the heart. Then Jesus said something that is so timeless in its application. He said “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” His words ring as true today as they did in the days of Rome. Today, we fight to preserve the gospel of Jesus Christ, the very word of God, from being watered down and diluted until it no longer resembles the Word, but rather the ideas of men. And this is being done not by us, the followers of Jesus, but by religious leaders.

Jesus’s words warn us that it is what is in our hearts that either honor him or defile us. We are not defiled by what we receive, but by what we believe. Sound religious doctrine comes not from the lips of men, but from the words of God. When we defame our neighbor, gossip about a friend, we cannot redeem ourselves by paying lip service to a set of rules. When we interpret Scripture beyond the bounds of its normal and intended meaning, we do violence to God’s Word and defile his message.

It seems that God’s people will always be called upon to exercise discernment. Sometimes we are blessed with great leadership. Sometimes not. Whatever the circumstance, the words of our Savior remind us that we are to hear and understand. If our leaders try to tell us that which is not firmly rooted in the Word of God, then what they tell us is not of God. If not of God, then they will be rooted up in time. They are but the blind leading the blind and they are not to be followed.

How do we know who to follow? How do we know if they are right? One way is to ask this? Does what we are hearing, what we are doing, glorify God? If it does not, then chances are pretty good that it glorifies us or someone else. If what we hear glorifies God, then the message may be worth hearing. We have God’s Word with which to compare it. If it cannot pass the glorification test, then it should be suspect.

As Isaiah says, don’t let your heart be far from God. Let your words glorify God. Let your actions be consistent with those words. Expect that of your leaders as well.

Yes, saying can be defiling. It can poison relationships, wound people, destroy trust. But if we hear and understand, then what we say can enrich and honor God, our neighbor and ourselves.