Pentecost 14 – 30 August 2015 – Year B
Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The
text for this meditation is written in the 7th Chapter of the
Gospel of Mark: Verses 7:14–23:
And
he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There
is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the
things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the
people, his disciples
asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then
are you also
without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from
outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart
but his
stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods
clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles
him For
from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality,
theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and
they defile a person.
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In 1977, George Lucas released the first of the Star Wars series of
movies. At the time, he simply called it Star Wars, but most fans now
know it now as Star Wars: Episode IV -A New Hope. It was an incredible
success and made a lot of money for a lot of people.
One of the plot devices was something called “The Force.” People who
were strong in “The Force” were basically wizards. They could anticipate
other people’s actions, move objects with their minds, control other people’s
thoughts, and so forth. Using “The Force” required a great deal of
training and skill.
Proper control of “The Force” depended a lot on feelings. The
trainers were constantly telling the learners to search their feelings … trust
their feelings … feel, don’t think … trust your instincts … and so forth.
Eventually, the main character learned to trust his feelings … control “The
Force” … win the day … and become a hero.
All of this trusting in instincts and feelings makes for a fun
movie. It is great fiction, and the movies are very popular.
Unfortunately, there are people who believe that trusting your feelings and
instincts works in real life. This is especially sad when it comes to
making choices between right and wrong. People think that if they follow
their heart, it will always lead them in the right way.
Jesus taught the exact opposite. He said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out
of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
(Mark
7:20–23) According to Jesus, following your heart is
a very dangerous thing to do.
The book of Judges in the Old Testament gives an account of some of the
deepest, darkest, most immoral days of Israel. Cruelty, obscenity, and
hardness of heart all reach their deepest depths in this book. The book
of Judges ends with these words of judgment, “In those days there was no king
in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges
21:25) Some of the most horrible things described in
the Bible were considered right at that time because people judged by what was
right in their own eyes. This is just another way of saying that they
were following their heart.
If we take a few moments to think about it, it makes sense that it is
dangerous to trust our feelings as a guide to the ultimate truth. Think about
it. Do you feel the same every day? If your feelings change from
day to day, does that mean that the truth changes from day to day? What
about other peoples’ feelings? If you interview a hundred people on any
given topic, the odds are pretty good that you will get three or four different
feelings on that topic. If you interview those exact same hundred people
a year later, their feelings will change. Many of them won’t agree with
the answer they gave the previous year. Think about it … honestly … do
you really want to stake your eternity on a feeling that you have … a feeling
that might change tomorrow … a feeling that varies from person to person?
This is probably one of the biggest problems in the world today.
People base their ideas of right and wrong on philosophies that come from
within. They don’t ask, “Is this the right thing to do?” Instead, they
ask, “Does this seem right … to me?” “Does this make me happy?” “Does this give
me pleasure?” It is all about what makes me feel good … today. Our
society thinks this is good, healthy, wholesome, and so forth.
On the other hand, Jesus says, “… evil things come from within …” The
Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Jeremiah to say, “The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah
17:9) After the flood, the Lord Himself said, “… For
the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth …” (Genesis 8:21) Our culture wants you to believe that what comes from
inside of you is basically good. The Bible tells us that man is actually
evil to the core.
I don’t know about you, but this teaching frightens me. It means
that while I live in this sin-filled world, I carry a traitor around inside of
me. Jesus says that deep down in my heart is a source of evil, not
good. Jesus says that I can’t trust my heart for good. I can’t
trust my heart for truth. Jesus basically says that I can’t trust my
heart – that my heart is a traitor within me. I carry within me a deep
core of ugliness that is my sin. It is terrifying for Jesus to tell me
that my own heart betrays me.
The most frightening aspect of this rotten sin within me is that I can
do nothing about it. Every righteous deed I try to do … every pure
thought I try to have is polluted by the evil that is within me. I cannot
help myself because my own heart betrays me and works tirelessly to drag me
down to hell. What hope do I have against such a severe traitor? I
would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting
condemnation by a salvation that is beyond me – outside of me – greater than
me.
In Psalm 51 we read of the cry of David as he called out for rescue from
this sinful condition. King David had followed his traitorous
heart. He committed adultery with the wife of one of his finest and most
loyal army officers. Then he murdered that army officer in an empty
attempt to cover up his adultery.
What was his prayer when his pastor, Nathan the prophet, uncovered his
horrible sin? We have his words written in Psalm 51. In this psalm,
David finally did the only honest thing a sinner can do before Almighty
God. He pled guilty to all the charges levelled against him and threw
himself on the mercy of the court. He begged Almighty God to kill his old
sinful heart and create a new clean heart within him. This psalm is a
psalm we all need to pray.
God has already answered this prayer that we pray with David. He
sent His Son Christ Jesus into the world to take up our human flesh.
Since Jesus is the Son of God and was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb
of the Virgin Mary, He was born with a clean heart. He experienced all
the temptations we experience, but He never sinned. Instead He took the
sin of our hearts onto Himself and carried it to the cross. As He hung on
that cross, He paid the price that God’s justice demands of our sin. He
suffered the punishment of hell in our place for us. We know that the
price He paid was more than enough because the grave could not hold Him.
His resurrection from the dead shows us that God is now ready to create a clean
heart in each of us.
In order to create a clean heart in us, God first puts the old, ugly,
toxic, sinful heart to death. It is as the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to
say, “Do you not know that all of us who
have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?” (Romans
6:3) and “We
know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin
might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
(Romans 6:6) and “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)
God works … not from the inside … but from the external Word to drown our old
sinful nature.
He then works in us to create that new, clean heart for which we
prayed. Again, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to say, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and “If we have been united with him in a death
like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
(Romans 6:5) and “If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with
him.” (Romans 6:8) When the Holy Spirit
plants faith in us, He does a heart transplant. He removes our filthy
hearts of sin and replaces them with new, clean hearts.
Now, although we have new, clean hearts, we still live in a sinful
world. Temptations still attack us from all directions, and we often
suffer defeat. That is when our new hearts convict us of sin and drive us
back to the cross. There we once again confess our sins and receive
forgiveness for all our sins. In this way, God keeps our new heart clean
until He takes us away from this world of sin. On that day, the angels
will carry us to His side in Heaven. There we shall wait for the Last Day
when He will raise the dead and take all who believe in Him into eternal
life. In that new earth, we shall never be sinful again.
Each and every one of us was born with a toxic heart. It was a
heart that loved sin and hated God. Over time our continuous sinning only
made our hearts blacker and more toxic. There was no way that we can
trust such hearts to guide us in the truth. Instead, God took our ugly,
sinful hearts and destroyed them at the cross. Now through Holy Baptism,
He gives us newly created hearts – hearts that fear, love and trust in Him
above all things – hearts that turn to Him in time of trouble – and when
temptations overwhelm us, hearts that confess our sin in the sure and certain
knowledge that God loves us for Christ’s sake and will forgive us. These
are new hearts that will live with Him in heaven and rejoice before His throne
forever. These are the new hearts that God has created in us. Amen
The Grace and Peace of our Great Triune God, that is beyond all human
understanding, keep your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen
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