Sun Kwak, “Where Does Your Allegiance Lie?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJ7tQ7cJ4

TEXT: Mark 7:1-13

[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, [2] they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. [3] (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, [4] and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) [5] And 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?” [6] And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

[7] in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

[8] You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

[9] And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! [10] For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ [11] But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—[12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, [13] thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

SERMON: “Where Does Your Allegiance Lie?”

I remember this one time in high school — and high school was a dark period for me. For a lot of people, that dark period happens in middle school. They call people like me late bloomers. But it had a lot to do with my circumstances and the changes around me, as much as it did with my hormones and the changes within me that I didn’t know what to do about. And from eighth grade and into ninth grade, not only was I displaced from the Twin Cities (St. Paul/Minneapolis) to Denver. But my dad went from studying for his Ph.D to receiving the benefits for having received his Ph.D. We jumped something like two or three income brackets. And I felt every bit of that change. When we first moved to Denver, I got something that we could never afford to get when we were living below the poverty line while living in the city — and that was a Walkman. And for those who don’t know what a Walkman is, that’s the portable CD player that preceded the MP3 player which preceded the smartphone. But I was so proud of that thing. And had I flashed that Walkman in my old middle school hallways, it would been a head turner. Everybody would have leaned in — Is that a Sony? I’ve never seen a Sony before. Can I try touching the buttons? Oo, it spins even with the cover open? But little did I know that the year before, there came out this thing called the iPod. And for those who don’t know what the iPod is, it’s the music player that preceded the iPhone. And so, here I was so proud of my Walkman, trying to attain a little cheap popularity with my new little toy in my new environment. Putting my Nelly on max volume, with the cover open and the CD spinning. And I remember feeling ten feet tall sitting there and listening to Country Grammar. But then, I see this slick little white box that was about the size of a cigarette pack. And I’m thinking — What is that little wheel under the screen? Can I try touching it? Oo, you don’t even need to click anything? And in an instant, that new toy of mine lost its luster really quick. All it took for me, was a glance.

And because of this comparison, there all of a sudden brewed within me this seed of discontentment. It just sunk me into this place of self-despair and joyless coveting, where I felt not just that what I had wasn’t enough but somehow that I wasn’t enough, that I wasn’t good enough for this new crowd. And I wonder if there are some of us in here who have felt the same way in churches. Where you might be feeling okay with yourself, and you get yourself through the door and to the worship service. But it’s just something about the posture of people and the closed huddle conversations. Maybe even the way you see people are dressed, or how you hear this holy language — what we call Christianese or in our circles Reformed Theology. And all of a sudden, you feel out of place, not just about what you do but about who you are. That this isn’t the place for you, and that you don’t belong here. And maybe even that you don’t have enough for God to love you. And if that’s where you are or some place you’ve been in thought, feeling, or experience, Jesusgives us this story here in Mark 7 to tell us that church isn’t a place to belong by what we look like, talk like, or seem like. And church ought not to be a place that conforms our internal convictions through the pressures of external semblances. That being a Christian is not about looking the part. Because Jesus is after the heart and sees through the false facade. The fact that you’re here this morning says you belong here — because it’s the call of Jesus that qualifies you in this place and nothing else. Before engaging in our passage today, Jesus is back from these miracles, and he’s facing the religious authorities. And back in ch3v5, something we read is that Jesus looked around at the religious leaders, who were putting people down and pushing people out and breaking people’s backs with the demands of the law. And it’s there that Jesus is said to have looked around at them [these religious leaders] with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. This is the kind of look that a parent gives to someone who’s just wounded their children. It’s defensive and filled with anger. I want us to remember that look. Because it’s the look that Jesusreserves for people who say in sentiment — You don’t belong here. I’m better than you.

So, we’re here in chapter 7. And last week, we mentioned this weird word toward the end of chapter 6. That Jesus had moored to the shore. And we noted that this was a stationing. And he’s stationed here, because he’s committing to his end game, focusing upon and narrowing down his opposition. And how does Mark introduce to us who the end gameis? Here, it’s the scribes and the Pharisees seen in conjunction. And in Mark’s language here, they’re gathered around him. And this is a spiritual picture of a swarm of bees that are coming upon one object. Something about the Pharisees— they weren’t perceived in their context the way you might be envisioning. You and I might hear the word Phariseetoday, and we might think of those who are uptight and distant and detestable. But the prominence of these Phariseesrose when the people of God, the Israelites had been living in exile, without land and thus without identity. And in this place of diminished worth as a people, up rose these Pharisees, who wanted to stamp worth and value upon what it meant to be a Jew. That they were the special chosen people of God. And to a people who were looking for something to hold onto, they really held onto this idea that (1) they were special because of their race, and (2) they were special because they had these traditions that had sprung from abiding to these laws. And so, they decided to form a system around religious adherence and new laws and strict enforcements of these laws. And to a broken people who had lost their land and their worth, it dignified them. And you can prove me wrong, but in every children’s Bible where there are pictures, I’ve never seen a smiling Pharisee. These guys always look like some middle eastern human depiction of the Grinch. But these Pharisees, according to traditions, were not unliked but seen favorably by the common public eye. It’s not like when Jesus started pronouncing woes on the scribes and Pharisees that everyone jumped up and said — Yeah, off with their heads! They were generally liked and didn’t cause much of a disturbance. They were just really committed, really devoted to what they placed their life’s identity around, which was a self-salvation, a religious adherence.

There’s this tragic scene in The Lord of the Rings involving Prince Faramir. He and his men are being sent on a suicide mission by Faramir’s selfish and foolish father who is the temporary steward of Gondor who’s put under a spell. And they’re solemnly riding out to what looks like certain death. And Gandalf looks over at Faramir and directs these words to him — Faramir, do not throw away your life so lightly. And there, Faramir replies — If not here, where does my allegiance lie? And it’s tragic, because he’d tied his allegiance, his life, his identity to his father and to his kingdom. And he’s essentially saying — I know nothing else. And you see, the Pharisees had put their entire allegiance and their lives and identity into this system of self-salvation that they’d created through the laws and teachings of religiosity. And just as we hear of the certain demise of Faramir and his men, here Jesus looks upon those who are following the customs of the Pharisees and the scribes, essentially saying — Do not throw away your life so lightly. Because what we’re told of this obsession over the tradition of the elders — and specifically, in our text these manmade cleanliness laws. Five times Jesus makes mention of these tradition of the elders. And when we read in verse 13, these traditionsare said to make void the Word of God. And it’s not just that they themselves are empty, but they have a negative effect. That if it balances out to zero, it pulls the very opposite direction from the Scriptures. They go the very opposite direction of the Scriptures. That according to verse 8, you only hold to these traditions when you leave the commandment of God. And what’s frightening is that we’re told that it’s not just the Pharisees and the scribes who are affected. But verse 3 tells us that all of the Jews were affected by these traditions. To those who say — If not here, where does my allegiance lie? — what we must present is not just the fallacy of their allegiance, like the analogy of corban that Jesus uses. Where these fallacious traditions prevented one and bound one’s conscience from being able to help his or her own parents. But that word corban literally means devoted things. And the aim is not just to present the fallacious nature of manmade traditions but to ultimately present something better, something worth committing to, something worth devoting to and putting your allegiance in.

Verse 7 really sits at the center of this passage, and it’s about vain worship. There’s an emptiness and a hollowness to what’s happening with these Pharisees and scribes and tradition of the elders. These are the empty formalities that have no life or heart behind or under them. One of the main confrontations, as we read in verse 7, is the way that these religious leaders had put some of the teachings of the rabbis, the commandments of men, to be on par with Scripture. It’s the tradition of the elders that are highlighted. And this isn’t to make an absolutizing statement that traditions are bad. Alisdair McIntyre writes about the purpose of a watch. The watch is good when it’s used with its proper purpose. It’s not good for hammering in nails but to keep on one’s wrist to tell the time. And the purpose of traditions is to be a support to Scripture, not to take its place. They’re meant to be helpful tools, not the central power source. But the fallacy with the tradition of the elders was that these manmade commandments were placed on par, with the same binding authority as the divine Word of God, the Scriptures. And that’s the problem that Jesus is addressing here. And when Mark here talks about the cleaning of pots and pans, you can kind of hear the smirk in his wording. And it’s laughable with how seriously they took these things. But this wasn’t a laughing matter for these Pharisees and for those who upheld the tradition of the elders. Because in the Mishnah, which were additional manmade laws and traditions and writings — a part of the Talmud. In the Mishnah, there were thirty chapters dedicated to commentaries about exactly that — how to properly clean pots and pans. And it’s just a snapshot into what they had devoted their lives to, where such devotion is shown through how much they obsess over little details.

And look at how they’re so blinded. What’s the context for them bringing up these clean laws and traditions? They’re questioning whether or not Jesus had people wash their hands with the feeding of the five thousand. Because if they were truly immersed into the Scriptures, then the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand would have made them consider real questions, like — Is the Messiah here? Is this the I AM of Exodus 16, with the manna? But the question of whether or not Jesus had people wash their hands took precedence for them. Because the tradition of the eldershad blinded them, and it incapacitated them from being able to properly order their priorities. Now, that word for washthat’s used here is the Greek word βαπτιζω, which is of course, where we get the word baptize. But for these traditions, what they patterned their washing after was after the high priests and how they were to be cleansed on the Day of Atonement. And the fallacy here was that this cleansing was self-administered. And just like what most of their traditions did, they missed the whole point of the Day of Atonement, which in fact, was not about washing and cleansing but the sacrifice and about the forgiveness of sins. And only were they overlooking the forgiveness of sins. But they thought true cleansing could be self-administered. And this is, perhaps, where the tradition of the elders was most contradicting and against Scripture — when it suggested that one could clean himself, clean herself while turning the center away from substitutionary atonement and divine grace. Because for you and I and every other human being with stained hands as a result of crooked and sinful hearts, we need our sins atoned for. And the answer is not within, it’s not with religious performance, it’s not with self-cleansing. Help comes from outside, where you are cleansed because of one who took on your sins and filth once and for all. The answer is in the story of the gospel, where the perfect God man took on sin, in order that we might be made right with our God and have our hearts deeply cleansednot through our filthy and stained hands but by his nail-pierced and bloodied hands.

And here, I want to circle back to that question — If not here, where does my allegiance lie? What would persuade us who are also inclined to self-medicate, to self-preserve, and to self-propitiate? To try to fix our own problems. To try to better ourselves to make it seem like we’re enough because of our performance and our efforts. For these Phariseesand some of these Jews, where all they’d ever known was the tradition of the elders, the purpose of washing handswas to disassociate. It was removing the filth, taking off the dirt. And for these who were religious washers, they dared not go into the middle of the marketplace when it was busy. Because their idea of washing was not just physical but spiritual and communal. It was to disassociate themselves from all those nasty people out there. And for us who are frivolously washing our hands, so to speak, trying to rectify all that’s soiled in our lives, what is the counter narrative? Well, unlike the Pharisees, there was one who was there at the marketplace, and he’s being touched by everyone who needs healing. Meaning he’s touching and being touched by unclean people. And while the Pharisees were avoiding these unclean people in order to disassociate, here is Jesus who is deliberately approaching these unclean people in order to further associate, to draw closer and nearer. For unlike the Pharisees who were seeking to self-preserve, here was one who was willing to self-empty and self-sacrifice. And why? So that you and I might not have to engage in the incessant activity of washing hands and all the self acts of preservation and salvation. We look at one who entered our plight, who came into the marketplace.

And it’s said that these Pharisees and religious rulers and leaders were said to believe that the Talmud, which consisted of the Mishnah and the Gamarra, that they believed that these manmade commandments and arrangement of words were more beautiful even than the contents of Scripture. But I’d challenge that notion. Bring me a story more compelling, more beautiful than the gospel story of our king who gave up his rights in order to bring his wicked servantsinto his fold. The story of a loving Father who gave up his own Son in order to bring his estranged daughters and sonsinto his home. The story a loving Savior who gave up his life in order that those of us dead in our trespasses might have life in him. And this is what gripped those in the first churches. We read towards the end of Acts 2, after Peter’s great sermon at Pentecost, there were those who also devoted themselves. But not to rituals or behaviors nor to traditions but, as we read in Acts 2:42, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. And what resulted was not a keeping of resources. But as we read in verse 45 — They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And why? Because they had seen one who had emptied himself, who had emptied his eternal resources. Not just to share but to draw near. To draw near to those who were under-resourced and under-privileged. Which in that time and often in our time, involved those who were socially disqualified, who were even contagious or dangerous. And why we would these devoted Christians do that? Because they saw one who left his heavenly riches to come to be among a people of spiritual poverty and to lift us up to give us the Father’s smile. And to bring us into community.

So, here’s how we’ll begin closing our time. I once heard a minister say that you can either be a fountain or a drain. And that you and I can create an atmosphere that’s life-giving or life-sapping. You can either pour out and into others with the things you say and the ways you sacrifice or sap people dry by your negativity and discouragement and self-centeredness. That you always have a choice in being one or the other. And that it’s never neutral. When your hearts are dissatisfied or when you misplace hope in dark times or when you think you deserve better or when you think you know better, you and I have a choice. We can choose to use our words and our hearts and our attitudes to lift up or to put down. So, let’s be generous with our hearts, with our smiles, with our words, and with our deeds. Let’s not constrict one another with the culture of the law but free each other by the liberating culture of grace and forgiveness. And let’s draw near in kindness. And let’s choose grace over condemnation. And let’s put our sins and the yucky mess in our hearts and lives into the only hands that can truly cleanse. Into his bloodied and mangled hands of generous salvation. Not to disassociate but to associate and to draw nearer and to cling closer. Even when it costs us something, because that’s what Jesus did when it cost him everything when he gave up his riches in heaven and his life to come to draw near and to pay the ultimate price in dying on the cross for our sins.