Clean hearts ...

Hear the word of the Lord:

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 thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live 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."
. . .

When he had left the crowd and entered the house . . . he said to them [his disciples], "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

If Jesus thought that the Pharisees were obsessed with washing and cleanliness, I wonder what he would think of us? For us, after all, it is not enough to clean the inside and the outside of the cup – we have to sterilize it. With clean water. Water cleaner than anything that they had to drink in the first century except for the newly-fallen rain. And when the very fact of our humanity requires us to come in contact with those things that might contaminate us, we immediately conceal and dispose of that uncleanness. This is much more obsessive compulsive than anything the Pharisees could contemplate.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m really into clean. Yet this modern compulsion to cleanliness is too often parallel to our concerns for spiritual sanitation. Remember that this was really what irritated Jesus in the first place. It wasn’t that Jesus disdained cleanliness; it was that Jesus hated arbitrary human rules about cleanliness keeping people separated from God.

Like the five-second rule that some have for dropping food onto the floor, do we have a “five-second” rule for dealing with the “sinners” in our world? Are we concerned that our reputation is so fragile that the mud-slinging foul name-calling of a fool is going to shatter it? Are we afraid that our emotional control is so limited and our temper is so devastating that we avoid people who irritate us with their stupidity or make us angry with their wrong-headedness? Or do we believe that our faith is so weak that five minutes alongside a companion with evil in their heart and profanity on their lips is going to corrupt our good morals? Maybe we’ve been able to move on from these self-obsessed fears.

Only to find ourselves protecting others that we love from this “uncleanness.”

Evil comes from our choice of evil.
Yes, we may be genetically predisposed to
certain things that might be evil,
but we still have a choice.
Perhaps something in our history means
that we have been traumatized
so that we tend to react in certain ways,
but we still have a choice.
Perhaps we are surrounded with rudeness, crudeness, and evil
as some sort of cruel community, some evil environment,
yet we still have a choice,
and we still have a responsibility for those choices.

Jesus spoke about the heart in another place, too.
“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good,
and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”

May we trust in the overflow of our heart.

Blessings,

Ron

Mark 7:1-23 – Luke 6:45 – NRSV

I'm sorry ...

God, be merciful to me because you are loving. Because you are always ready to be merciful, wipe out all my wrongs. Wash away all my guilt and make me clean again. I know about my wrongs, and I can't forget my sin. You are the only one I have sinned against; I have done what you say is wrong. You are right when you speak and fair when you judge. I was brought into this world in sin. In sin my mother gave birth to me.You want me to be completely truthful, so teach me wisdom.

Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you crushed be happy again. Turn your face from my sins and wipe out all my guilt. Create in me a pure heart, God, and make my spirit right again. Do not send me away from you or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation. Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit. Then I will teach your ways to those who do wrong, and sinners will turn back to you. God, save me from the guilt of murder, God of my salvation, and I will sing about your goodness. Lord, let me speak so I may praise you. You are not pleased by sacrifices, or I would give them. You don't want burnt offerings. The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin.

Psalm 51:1-17
New Century Version

Jason

The joy of forgiveness

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me

- Psalm 51:7-12

One of the deepest sources of joy in this life is God's forgiveness, and the work that He does in our hearts to purify us. This joy is unquenchable, insatiable, all-consuming. We experience joy and thankfulness because God's transformation of our souls changes us. It permeates us completely, down to the very fabric of who we are. Our identity becomes one of joy and gratitude to Him who makes us pure, clean, and holy.

Lord and Source of All Gifts,
we rejoice in the fullness of your holy generosity.
We thank you especially now
for the gift of change,
the gift of newness
that opens doors closed by habit and routine.
...

We thank you, O End of all Longing,
for the capacity for change in our lives
for without change
there can be no real growth
and no true life.

- excerpt from Edward Hays

God's process of remaking us into new people is a fountain of joy and hope. This transformation brings us into a closer relationship with Christ, which brings us nearer to the greatest joy of all: dancing in the presence of our Father for eternity in Heaven.

There's nowhere else that I'd rather be
than dancing with you as you sing over me
There's nothing else that I'd rather do,
Lord, than to worship you

- song of worship

What joy is evident in these words! Having cleansed us and made us pure, God welcomes us to His home, where we find our ultimate fulfillment. There is nothing else I'd rather do ... Just think on that.

Thank you Lord
for shaping and molding us
for refining us by fire
into what you made us to be

Thank you for washing us
with your blood
in order to renew our hearts
so that we may spend eternity with you
knowing joy without end

We rejoice because you have saved us
We sing for joy because you have rescued us out of our pit
We shout jubilantly in thanks for your awesome works
Thank you for changing us, O Lord,
Our Rock and our Redeemer

Smile and be glad today, because you are not who you once were. God has purified our hearts, so that He could wrap us in His arms forever. May you have joy in the knowledge that God has remade you!