Sermon on Mark 7:1-13, for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost 2021 (B), "Above and Beyond"

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. No one I know argues against handwashing, especially nowadays. You’ve probably never been so conscious of hygiene as you have in the past year. But of all people, Jesus defends His disciple’s unwashed hands in our reading! But no, it wasn’t really about hygiene, and yes mom, I will still wash my hands before I eat; and yes kids, you still need to take a shower. Jesus shows the real issue at stake is the flood of extra traditions and manmade commandments that the Pharisees and scribes tacked on to obedience to God.

It's not just that the disciples didn’t wash their hands, it’s that they didn’t follow the handy hand-washing procedure handed down by the elders. The word “tradition” used several times here, just means “handed down.” The hand-washing protocol was alongside other ceremonies for washing (baptizing) cups, pots, vessels, and dining couches. There was a “proper way” for washing everything, and the disciples weren’t paying attention! (Those of you who have wars about the proper way to load a dishwasher probably know the feeling!) They’re demanding: “Get your disciples in line Jesus!”

You could say the Pharisees wanted to go “above and beyond” God’s law. But in this case, going “above and beyond” was actually a bad thing. They would talk about “building a fence around God’s law.” For example, God’s law says “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God”—so the Pharisees would avoid any risk of misusing God’s Name by not pronouncing the word out loud. It was well-intentioned, but by trying to go “above and beyond” the Law, they hindered the good and proper use of God’s Name for worship, prayer, and thanksgiving. However well-intentioned, human ingenuity doesn’t improve God’s Law. Instead of being “extra safe” not to break it, we unintentionally stray from the heart of God’s Law. In other words we should be more concerned about keeping God’s actual Law than our human-devised “safeguards”. A legalism “above and beyond” gets things the other way around.

So, Jesus blasts 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.’ 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” “Above and beyond” looked impressive on the outside, but Jesus saw through to the heart. And what He saw was empty worship—lip service—but hearts far away from God’s heart.

Jesus’ example of when “above and beyond” hurts instead of helps is the Corban rule. A pious Jewish son vows a gift; some of their wealth or income to the Temple or to God. That was “corban”—an offering. Then, elderly parents, with no Social Security or pensions to live on, asl their children for support. The son says in effect, “Sorry mom and dad, I promised that to God and/or the Temple. I can’t help. You’re on your own. You wouldn’t want me to take away from my gift to God, would you?” Yikes! Jesus says with biting sarcasm: “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition” … “thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” This wasn’t an isolated example. It was a pattern of going “above and beyond” in ways that hurt, rather than helped. They were emptying or voiding God’s Word and God’s commands, to validate their own!

We’re not immune. In the military they joke about the “good idea fairy” with brilliant sounding ideas that sound look good on the outside but create unnecessary work or difficulty. The danger is thinking we’re “above and beyond” as a super-disciple or extra obedient to God, finding righteousness in our good works—when in fact we’ve wandered from God’s heart and added obscuring layers of human invention to God’s Word. One form of this is substituting a man-made version of something Biblical God has already designed and commanded. A baby dedication ceremony, in place of baptism, for example. It’s just a man-made tradition, that might come from a good intention, but substitutes for God’s real gift of baptism. Another form is when we try to go “above and beyond” God’s commands. God’s Word commands sexual purity, and we have a good idea of what that means, but we build a fence around the law with “safety rules” like no kissing, no holding hands, no dancing. Again, it might come from a place of good intention or human wisdom, but do we enforce human safeguards as though they were God’s? Instead of trying to figure out “how far can I go?” we might ask, “is what I am doing bringing glory to God?”

Jesus wasn’t surrendering God’s Law or opening up a free for all. His opponents might have liked to stick Him with that accusation—but instead of a free for all, here He upholds the fourth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother”. Next week He validates more of the Ten Commandments. But Jesus seeks God’s heart in everything. Jesus raised the Law to its maximum effect. The Law is not just outward obedience but starts in our heart and intentions. What looks good and obedient on the outside isn’t enough if our heart and intentions aren’t in the right place. “Above and beyond” legalism or additions and substitutions for God’s commands gets us nowhere. It hurts not helps. Jesus dove deeper into the Law. Not by addition or substitution but getting to the heart of God’s Law.

When Jesus calls us out for being far from God in our hearts, paying lip service or worshipping in vain, those are all startling wake-up calls. Manmade traditions like the Corban rule or our own similar inventions hurt rather than help. Why? Because they place burdens on people that are not from God. Placing false guilt on people; that’s not from God. There is however, true guilt: guilt on our conscience when we’ve sinned against God’s Law. God intends for us to feel true guilt, not false guilt. We should feel no guilt for violating man’s traditions. But dishonoring father and mother; when we have not worshipped God alone as we ought to; or when our hearts have grown distant and unfeeling toward God—God gave our conscience to feel this burden of sin and guilt. Our God-given alarm system sounds for our own safety and good, so we can recognize sin and repent of it. Therefore, we must guard against the fine-sounding commands of men that try to hijack God’s alarm system and make us feel a false guilt. Or even those who try to disconnect the alarm system! This takes a true knowledge of God’s Word.

God, keep our hearts aimed at your heart! Jesus is the key because He went above and beyond! Wait, didn’t I just finish saying going “above and beyond” can be harmful? Without God’s heart and outside His commands, yes it can! But Jesus’ heart was always aimed true to the Father’s will. He sorted the question traps and hypotheticals with ease, aiming steadily at the Father’s will. Some said He was too radical; others would say He was too conservative. But there’s no better picture of the heart of God and of His commandments than Jesus’ life. He’s our True North, our orientation to God’s heart.

Jesus went above and beyond by living God’s Law fully and completely. No additions or substitutions but living the spirit of the Law and caring for all people. Love our neighbor as ourselves! The Law can’t spell out all the ways you can “Honor your father and your mother”. Neither can man-made traditions. But Jesus, in the spirit of the law and with God’s heart knew how. By His life and the life of the Spirit in us we also can be creative and God-honoring in how we honor father and mother. Or love our neighbor as ourselves, and all the other commandments.

Jesus went above and beyond the law by laying down His innocent life in our place. Our sin and guilt burdens—true burdens of wrongdoing and failing God’s commands—Jesus nails them to His cross. When we have offered God nothing but lip-service, Jesus touches our lips with His body and blood and purges the guilty stain from our mouth. With cleansed lips, Jesus to leads us in God-honoring worship with the song of a heart, soul, and mind united to God’s will. When our hearts have fallen far from God, Jesus unites our thankful heart to Him. Jesus ever pulls us back into His orbit, circling Him, passionate with His calling and His will. Jesus went above and beyond to the cross, where He laid down His life for us. In passionate love for us, above and beyond what the law could require of Him, He gave it all.

Jesus’ Gospel is the real “above and beyond”, that helps and heals humankind. Not measured or quantified by the law. Not improved by human traditions. Matching our own works to human traditions, with all their apparent wisdom, will take our eyes off Jesus. God’s approval doesn’t from traditions, but from Christ. He’s the center of gravity for our worship and a right heart. Orbiting Him we find the right orientation to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He’s begun this work already in your life. By faith He works in you, steering your orbit around Him. He takes you above and beyond, toward God, in His heart; not orbiting man made distractions.

Jesus’s Gospel brings us above and beyond to the new life and a new creation. All we’ve been talking about these past weeks. New clothes for our new walk and walking worthily in the Lord. Christ makes us new and walking in Him. Our worship can be Christ-centered, not me-centered. He fills our hearts with His will and concern for people, instead of checking the boxes of rules and manmade traditions. Life “above and beyond” is where we experience the true freedom and joy of the Gospel. Where we live as the best kind of humans. No boasting of ourselves, no jumping in front of others, no putting others down, but genuine eyes of compassion seeing the needs of others, and helping with a cheerful heart, as Christ so helped us. His heart never strayed from God, His lips always sang God’s praises, His worship was purposeful, genuine, and true.

Jesus’ life above and beyond is ours in the Gospel. It’s only through Him, not through our good works. We can’t substitute for it by our works or traditions or get God’s approval thereby. His life is freely given, a living gift inside you. How blessed to live this life, above and beyond, in Jesus’ Name! Amen.