14- Enough!: Mark 7:1-13 - Mike Olynyk, Meadows

You're invited!  Come on a journey as we see the sights, smell the smells & experience Jesus' story told by Mark in an immersive way.  Engage in the story as one of the crowd, the disciples or even as a religious leader.  For an even more immersive experience, click the link below to follow along with the PDF media with maps, pictures of historical sites and more.

Enough! PDF - CLICK HERE

*Music Credit: I Just Wanna Be A Sheep - Jules Riding

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Transcript

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You're listening to audio from Meadows Church in Langley, BC. For more information about Meadows Church, go to Meadowschurch.ca. We are continuing through our Encountering Jesus series. Jesus has just walked on water. And then he's revealed himself to his disciples as the I am. And then he's calmed the sea again, this time not by shushing the sea, but merely walking into a boat. And as he stepped into the boat, remember, the sea went calm. Well, not only that, but we we leave him in chapter six as he's going from town to town and he is teaching and he is healing. And people have figured something out. That if they merely touch his clothing, touch him, they would be healed, and it's absolutely incredible. And it is getting the attention of the religious leaders once again as well. Well, as I started to read Mark 7, I got a song in my head, which I'm gonna play for you in a second, but is anybody there? Like recently, you just got a song you just can't get out of your head. It might have been, you know, sometimes a silly song like chicken banana. Is anybody at the spring dance that I was DJing? That song came on, and so great song. And if it wasn't in your head, it probably is now. You're welcome. But I I read one sentence of scripture, and then suddenly I'm singing a Sunday school classic. It was one where I was leading Sunday school class at Willington Church, and I heard this song, and maybe you can can pick it out. I just want to be wanna be sheep. I just want to be a big thing. Okay, that's enough. I think it's enough to get in your mind. So I'm listening to this, and then you know the song comes up, and and if those of you who know the verse, I don't want to be a hypocrite. Why? They're not hip with it. That's right. And and I don't want to be a Pharisee, why? Because they're not fair, you see. And then the other one, I don't want to be a Sadducee, why? Because they're so sad, you see. And and that's what came up because we're talking about Pharisees and Sadducees. I thought, you know what? It's funny how children's ministry songs kind of shape our view of these people from Scripture. And I don't know that we actually know a lot about the Sadducees and Pharisees. Besides being not fair, you see, and sad, you see. They aren't flocking to Jesus for wisdom and miracles. And part of the reason for that is that Jesus is actually stealing all the people that would be that were like, Well, you're so cool, and now they're saying, Jesus, well, you're so cool. And they're walking away from the synagogues and the temple, and and they're flocking to Jesus. And they're like, We want that pride. We want those people to come to us. Well, we also know about the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they were in charge of the Jewish faith. They are the two denominations, if you will, of the Jewish faith, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. And they taught in the temple, Sadducees, and the Pharisees taught in synagogues. And so, does this kind of sum up our knowledge of Pharisees and Sadducees, would you say? It gives a pretty good overview. Well, today, Jesus is going to rip into the Pharisees like bad. And in Matthew's account, he's gonna go woe seven times, which basically means, you know what? You're doing this wrong, and you're doing this wrong, and you're doing that, and bam, it is in your face against the Pharisees. So know that that's not coming in our story because we're reading Mark's gospel, but Matthew takes it a step even further than Mark does in this case. I just feel like if we are going to experience Scripture, smell the smells, and see the sights, we should probably know a little more about the Pharisees. Why are they not fair, you see? And how and why did this guy get his knickers sewing a knot? Are you okay? Can we go down that journey for a second? Okay. So Israel, in current context, actually just about 200 years before this time, is under the rule of the Seleucid Empire, the Macedonian Greeks that have overrun the world. They are the champions right now. And they have taken over Israel, and at first everything's fine, and they're okay with them being a vassal state, and then they decide, you know what? No. We are going to assimilate you, and you are become going to become Hellenistic Greeks. That means no more reading the Torah, they were going to ban it. No more temple observance, no more going to the temple. The temple would either become obsolete or would be torn down. No more Sabbath rests and festivals. This is harsh. And why do you think that kid's happy? No more circumcisions. Yeah. I joke, but in all seriousness, this is their culture. They're that this is who they are. They are they are Jews, and this all these things are important to them. Just like it's important that we come to Meadows Church and are around people and we are talking about God, and Jesus is just filling up our lives. All these things happen, and the Sadducees are trying to appease the solutions. The Greeks. Trying to appease them. So, yeah, yeah, we'll do whatever you want. Uh it's all good. We'll come under your control. And and they don't do anything. And so there's this group that rises up. That's not the Sadducees. It is run by Maccabe, and in five years, boom, independence. They gain their independence, and for like 80 years, they are in uh La La Lan. It is great. And uh then the Romans come in 67 BCE and take over again. But in this time, do you know what happens right before that? You have this party where they rededicate the temple and they actually make a new Jewish holiday. You know what that holiday is? Hanukkah. Hanukkah is birthed out of this rededication to the temple. It is huge. Well, during this time of favor and being in control of their own places, what happens? When people get comfortable, they start infighting. You have the Sadducees, and they are the political and economic elite. These are people who control the temple, and they also control the Sanhedrin, which is the court of the day. And these Sadducees are Levites from the clan of Levi. They are the deemed priests by God to man in the temple. And then you have these Pharisees on the other side. And the Pharisees are a little bit different. You see, they're not Levites. They're not from the clan of Levi. They are not priests, they are commoners. But they decide, one, because of the revolt happened, Maccabees became a Pharisee, and they grew up around this to say, yes, we took it back. And so now we're going to follow the Pharisees, and Pharisees are growing, and they decide that they don't want any more of this destruction of Israel. They want God to have favor, and they think that comes by making themselves holy. And so they make it their goal in this world to clean up this town. And so the name Pharisee literally means separate one. They become ultra-pious. And I went down the rabbit hole here and study, which was great. I'll tell you that while the Sadducees believe that there is one authority, the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible, and the rule of the temple, the Pharisees believe this, but they also believe in oral tradition. And so what big smart dudes decide are rules, you have to follow. These are in things like the Mishnah. Do you see the slippery slope that happens there? As now not only the Bible, but also what these dudes say is law, and you have to follow. And there was kind of this like extra proving to be a Pharisee because they didn't have Levitical status, they didn't have the priest designation from God. And so they would will it by obtaining superholiness. And they clean up Israel too. They build themselves up with a bunch of extra super holy rules, and then they follow them to a T, and the worst part of it all was then they look down on everyone who didn't measure up. Today, Jesus would start to go to town. He would start to make a statement against this. Because the problem with it is that Jesus is the Lamb of God who purifies us and sets us up as a priesthood of all believers. We put our trust in him and we are clean. The Pharisees would never get it right on their own. Their righteousness would never be enough. And what's worse, they would push away the one person who would completely clean them. Jesus. And so let's read. Because Jesus is about to throw down. Mark 7, verse 1. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. And we can say here that they were not his pupils. They were not there to glean knowledge from Jesus. Instead, they were there to poke holes in his argument. They were there to actually find something unclean about Jesus so they could discount his ministry and show how super holy they are. And they would try to find something, and here it is. And the Pharisees, they saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. The Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat unless they gave their hands a ceremonial, that's a key word, washing, holding to the what? The tradition of the Torah? No, the tradition of the elders. When they came from the marketplace, they did not eat unless they washed hands. And they observed many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. And to that we say very sanitary of you. That's great. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law then asked Jesus, why don't your disciples live according to the traditions of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands? Let me tell you what this is not. This is not them saying, your disciples, they're gonna get a stomach bug. We're really concerned. And so if you could just wash your hands, uh like surely you know the Canadian health and safety practices. In BC Health Link Guide, wash your hands often to keep yourself and others healthy. Like, come on. So now what was it about? And it wasn't even self-preservation, it wasn't one of these, and all I can think about is Jimmy Fallon here, so I'll say, like, ew. Ew. They they didn't wash their hands, and then they touched the salad tongues that I have to touch now. Where is my hand sanitizer? That's not it either. Because if it was, I think Jesus would say something like, Thanks so much for your care. It's okay, I'm the ultimate healer. If anything happens, I got 'em. That's not the conversation they had. So if it's not health and safety, then what is it? And and I tried, friends. I tried extra hard to find scripture to back this up. I looked at commentaries that said there was no scripture. I'm like, ah, surely there's some sort of scripture. And I looked at other tracks, and there is nothing that points towards washing your hands, and then you will be right before God when you eat. Because that's what they were talking about. Instead, the super holy people, they took a verse out of context and they made it universal, an extra rule to follow. This is the only thing I could find. Is that they want to be Exodus 9, verse 6. They want to be a priesthood. They want to rise up to be there, as God says in Exodus 9, verse 6. And so in doing this, they look to the high priest who is Aaron and his sons, to go into the Holy of Holies. God commands them to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy of Holies. And somehow down the line, that got transferred to whenever you eat, ceremonially wash your hands, or you are unclean. Do you see the downward spiral when you make your own laws of righteousness? And just how mad, like I just, no wonder Jesus went, oh no, you didn't in the next verse. He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human tradition. And this is just what they do. So the Mishnah is one of these groups of oral traditions written down, the super holy people giving extra rules. And what is said in the Mishnah is that they build a fence, they want to build a fence around the law so that nobody sins. Let me tell you what that means. So, you walk into a museum and there's this glass case, or there's the velvet rope, and there's this beautiful artifact there, and you're looking at all the detail in that artifact. Well, it's like if they said, you know what, we don't want anything to happen to this. So not only are we of the glass, but we're gonna get you to stand about 15 feet away and we're gonna fence it off. And then you can look at the artifact. That's what they were doing to the law of God. Here's my own example. It's the logic of, well, huh, knives, they they murder people. They have the propensity to do that. So instead of me murdering somebody, I am never gonna touch a knife again. And then you, you know, you you put your finger in the butter and you butter your bread. That is essentially what they were doing with the law of God. It's absolutely absurd because God put these rules not just so that we could be clean, it's so that we could have right relationships with each other and right relationships with Him. They were completely missing the point. And all the joy and the peace and the love that is right there to experience, they were sucking it out with their heavy weight of extra rules. Friends, Jesus said he came that we may have life and life to the full, not burdened by human rules. Well, the kicker. And Jesus' next point is that they actually break the law by their extra rules. The fence made to keep people from sinning actually causes them to sin, Jesus says. Let's take a look in verse 9. And he continued. For Moses said, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares that what might be used to help their father and mother is Corbin, that is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for their father and mother. Let me work this out real quick for you. It is a completely twisted thing that was happening. You have Jewish men, especially Pharisees, who were part of the ministry, and so they would basically give themselves things by devoting things and saying, you know what, this property or this thing or this money is devoted to God, and then they would continue to use it for themselves. And when mom or or father were in need in their old age, they would they would say, You know what? No, that's Corbin. I have nothing to give you. It's all God's. And they would twist scripture to their own advantage, and in that way actually break the command of God. Crazy. Jesus says, Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many things like that. And Jesus doesn't mention it. He would go on, and Matthew has an identical look at this story, except then Matthew goes to add on that Jesus lays into them with the seven woes. And you can look at Matthew's gospel as he goes, uh-uh, you do this wrong. You should be like this, but you're like this. And it all comes back to this not fair you see. It all goes back to this hypocritical nature of the Pharisees. I got a couple of examples that Jesus could have mentioned here. If you know the story of the Good Samaritan, there is somebody who is just beat up on the side of the road and left for dead and all of his stuff stolen. And Jesus tells the story of both a Pharisee and a Sadducee seeing this man who's beat up going to the other side of the road, making sure not to touch him, and continuing on to the temple in Jerusalem. They didn't want to be unclean, and in that sense, they completely took away love. And Jesus puts the nail in the coffin on that one by saying that a dirty Samaritan actually comes and does it. He picks up the man, he takes him to the inn, he cares for him, he gives them everything that's needed. Jesus says, That's how you're supposed to love. One other example is the giving to the poor. They were just stringent on tithing everything. Jesus says, even their herb garden, they would tithe 10%. You see, in scripture, you give 10% to the church, and they would give all of this in public in a very grandiose and and just in-your-face way. Look what I'm giving. And then Jesus says, You're doing that, and that's helping yourself because it's your ministry. But what about the widows, the orphans, and those in need? You don't even give a penny for that. So they're doing their law that they've decided, and they are totally missing the law of God. They were so focused on their cleanness and uncleanness that they missed the point. But I love Jesus coming into the fray. Because his interaction with people before and after this story, do you know what it is? It's hanging with a bunch of people who were unclean to the Pharisees. We ended our time last week with Jesus being touched by a whole bunch of unclean people. In the Pharisees' uh minds, they would not be allowed in the temple if those people touched them. You would go, hey, hey, don't touch me. But Jesus was doing something different, he was making them clean. And then afterwards, he goes into a dirty Gentile's house. Well, in the Pharisees' mind anyway. But the Pharisees gaffe, and they say that this is unclean and sacrilegious to go into a Gentile's home. Jesus isn't them. He isn't a rule monger. He cares about us. And how he cares most about us is that he put the punishment of all the things that we do where we miss the mark. He puts that on himself so that we can be free. He died on the cross and he rose from the dead. Well, a couple more things. Let's put aside the corrupt and dubious Pharisees for you know, those that have been sucked into the web of narcissism and pride and holier than thouness. And let's look at just honest Pharisees that are caught up in this Phariseaic system and then find freedom in Jesus. And it there's lots of them. Acts 15, verse 5 shows a group of Pharisees that come to faith and freedom in Jesus. And I think that's amazing. You have Paul. Paul is the Pharisee of Pharisees. Going out, and he's actually a Christian terrorist. He's going to put Jews or sorry, Christians into prison and to kill them. That's his mandate. And then Jesus rocks his life, brings freedom, and he is changed forever. I think of one other group, and that is Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. These are Pharisees and minority leaders in the Sanhedrin. And what do they do? After the Pharisees nail Jesus to a cross, they're the ones that come and take Jesus' body down and puts it into the tomb. And it is Joseph's tomb. And despite the stance of the majority of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they choose Jesus, and their decision would mean that they were banished from the Sanhedrin. They wouldn't be allowed to really. Do things in the marketplace with other Jews, but it didn't matter because they had new purpose and they had freedom in Jesus. You see, here are strict, I mean strict observers of the law, trying their absolute hardest to please God by their holiness. And then Jesus comes and rocks their world. And he shows up in a way that changes their lives forever. He turns their idea of God from an angry dude where they just can never do enough to please him. And instead, they embrace a holy and loving God, one that died on the cross and rose from the dead for them. I think that is the punchline in this story. Jesus is separating legalism and religiosity from a true follower, a free person in Christ. I know that there are some of you, and never mind Pharisaic or religiosity, even the standards of God, like you are constantly beating yourself up because you have set the bar way too high in your own life. You constantly beat yourself up, and you have the weight of the world on you. You uh seem to be the only one who feels responsible to hold your family together or a friend group. You alone can be that enough to save your friend from depression or addiction or whatever. Am I hitting a note with anyone? You carry around all this past embarrassment and and failings, and it's heavy on you. I just want you to close your eyes if just to connect. Is that you? Do you need to just let go? I just think about this idea of religiosity and extra rules. And j I just think just don't make Jesus sacrifice useless or or subpar in your life. Jesus died on that cross. And he rose from the dead, and he sent his Holy Spirit to save you and me. And he uses us. And he says, Don't, you know, don't just keep sinning like get better relationships with each other and with me. But he also says that there's a Holy Spirit who can change hearts. That Jesus is the one who breaks strongholds and helps us conquer addictions and heals our broken relationships. The Pharisees were determined that it was all about them, that they were the only ones that could do it. And I just don't believe that. I believe that Jesus takes the weight of everything. Then instead of trying to will somebody towards health and healing, we pray for them and allow the Holy Spirit to change their heart. So whether it's a friend or whether it's you that needs to embrace Jesus and to let things go, I want you to know that Jesus loves you. And that he doesn't want you to carry a heavy burden. He wants to take that from you. Let's pray. God, I thank you that you are a God of love. That you make us enough. You created us and you love us. You took away our past weight that we could be free. God, if there is somebody here, if there are people here that just need to let go of something. As we sing this closing song, as we spend some time in reflection, would you come and show us what that is? And then help us let go. We want to be free in you, Jesus. Would you come and meet us? We're so glad you chose to join us today. To find out more about Meadows Church and how you can get involved, connect with a pastor or how you can partner with us in ministry. Go to Meadowschurch.ca.