May 31, 2009
Mark 7
This is a difficult passage. There aren't difficult names to read. The story isn't really difficult to understand. Jesus' words are difficult, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. ' " (verse 6). This is more horrific than any scary movie or nightmare. No printed word can effectively communicate the shriek of fear in my soul when I face the fact that my heart can go adrift, away from God (and does more than I'd like to admit). I am reminded of the words of a great hymn, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love!"
It is difficult also that this passage serves as a mirror into our relationship with Him! The following verses, 7-8, are also very convicting. They prompt these questions in my heart: Do I worship God in vain? Am I neglecting the commandment of God to hold my own traditions? I love the fact that this passage falls on a Sunday. These are important questions to ask about ourselves and about our church body. Psalm 139 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."
This sets the tone for the next several verses. Jesus continues to differentiate the outward from the inward, tradition from true worship. "There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him, but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man," (verse 15). What proceeds out of you and me? No matter what it is, it reveals the same thing: whether or not you and I are truly worshiping God.
"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." O God, give us ears to hear!!
This passage should not cause us to despair or to focus on our works or failures. It should prompt us to press into God more and more every day. It should prompt us to remember and give thanks that God began the work in us and He will finish it (Philippians 1:6)!! I conclude with more text from that great hymn, "Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love!"
May God bless the reading of His word!
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