If I have a glass of milk, and I knock it over, is coffee going to come out? No, only milk will. If I am carrying a bag of apples, and I trip and fall, what will come out of the bag? Only apples, not peaches or pears. Similarly, what will spill forth from my heart during a time of high emotion? The answer is whatever I have put in my heart. This is the subject of what the Lord Jesus taught in today’s Scripture from the Gospel of Mark. Let’s see what we can learn from His Words.
As our Scripture passage opens, the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus to criticize some of His disciples because they had not gone through the specific religious ritual of elaborate hand washing that the orthodox Pharisees went through before they ate (vs. 1-5). The Pharisees and scribes had all sorts of elaborate, detailed, and intricate rituals that they went through for many daily activities, including hand-washing and washing of dishes, etc. They had a great number of rules and regulations that were not found in the Old Testament Law, traditions which they had come up with on their own, and which they kept and insisted that others keep, as well. Now they were condemning Jesus and His disciples for not following these man-made rules and traditions.
What was Jesus’ response to these accusations? He did not say, “Oops, we’re wrong! We’ll do better next time, and be careful to follow your regulations.” No, instead Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 29:13), where He condemns how they pretend to honor the Lord, but instead are promoting man-made commandments rather than God’s Word (vs. 6-8). Jesus confronted all of the traditions that were practiced by the Pharisees and religious leaders. Some of these traditions had started with good intentions, some even initially being based on Scripture. However, over the years they expanded into layers of empty ritual. By the time of the Gospels, the Pharisees were putting more emphasis on keeping these man-made traditions and rituals rather than God’s Law.
Jesus proceeded to teach those around Him that it wasn’t by failing to keep these rituals that someone became “unclean” or “defiled”. Whether one goes through certain rituals, or keeps certain traditions or not doesn’t make one holy or not. It doesn’t make one a sinner or a righteous person. Jesus taught that it was what was in our hearts that made us defiled or not (vs. 14-15). The religious rituals that we do on the outside are not nearly as important as the condition of our heart. What really defiles a person is what is in their hearts, not what they eat or what rituals they follow.
Jesus rebuked the false worship of the scribes and Pharisees, and their outward show, but inside having a hard of heart. Substituting for real worship of God has been a problem for ages. Human-created religious traditions lead people to praise God outwardly, but without having a heart for God. Rituals often take the place of genuine faith. How many times have we seen a person who “acts religious” in church on Sunday, but they go home and the rest of the week they act like a demon to their family and neighborhood? We’ve seen people who might lead a prayer in church or at the dinner table, but an hour later they are cursing up a blue streak. Something is wrong there! However, Jesus said that what comes out of us is what is in our heart. If our heart is filled with evil thoughts and words, then that is what will spill out (vs. 20-23).
When we come up against trouble, we need to remember that only what is in us will spill out. When we are mistreated, do we respond with love or with anger and retaliation? Do we quickly lash out at the littlest things, or do we have a song of praise continually in our heart? How we respond is a test as to how close a walk we have with Jesus. If our heart is full of the Savior’s love, we will respond with patience and kindness when someone rubs us the wrong way or we face one of life’s trials. Remember, what is on the inside of us is what is going to spill over onto the outside.
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