Antidote

For the last five weeks, the Gospel readings have been from the sixth chapter of John, the so-called "Bread of Life" chapter. Finally, this week we are back in Mark, the appointed Gospel for this lectionary year B. But this passage from Mark is a bit unsettling. It begins with some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem making note that Jesus and his disciples do not always wash their hands before meals. Jesus was in Galilee at this time; the scribes from Jerusalem were probably sent up specifically to check up on Jesus.

The custom of washing hands, food from the market, cups, pots and bronze kettles were part of a way of life practiced by some Jews in Jesus day. The rituals were intended to bring reverence and service to God into many of the aspects of daily life… like saying grace before meals, but more extensive. The halakah or "walk" was practiced by the Pharisees and some others as a personal discipline throughout their lives.

But you have just heard this Gospel. I hope you don’t need me to tell you it isn’t really about washing hands or kettles or anything else. It’s about power, about personal or political power within the religious structures of the day. The Pharisees and scribes accuse Jesus of failing to live according to the "tradition of the elders." The tradition of the elders. That was a hot button phrase in Jesus’ day. I can easily think of contemporary examples, but I hesitate to say them because any one of them will immediately set at least half of you off. That’s what hot button phrases do; they are meant to be inflammatory; they are meant to get people worked up. The phrases may have once had sincere meaning, but they’ve been co-opted and are deliberately used to incite a reaction.

It would have been one thing if the people in the pews of the synagogue had asked Jesus about the meaning or relevance of the rituals, seeking understanding of their purpose or theology. Those are good questions to ask. But this passage isn’t about seeking understanding, it’s about power and politics. The Pharisees and scribes are intentionally using inflammatory rhetoric to try to undermine Jesus’ power with the people. They don’t care about theology; they are trying to sabotage Jesus’ influence with the people.

Jesus, not being a politician, calls them out. He speaks directly to the Pharisees and scribes who are challenging him: "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.’" Not a subtle or politically savvy response. It would not have gotten him elected. But he speaks with a powerfully prophetic voice, a voice with God’s own authority, condemning the motives and intent of the Pharisees and scribes.

Then Jesus turns aside from the Pharisees and scribes and speaks to the people. "Listen to me, all of you, and understand." He speaks to the people about what really matters. And he says that defilement is not some sort of ritual classification imposed by a religious institution. Defilement cannot be imposed from without. The defilement that people ought to be worried about comes from within. It is the staining of the human heart and soul caused by evil intentions and evil practice.

Defilement is the poisoning of the human soul by our own sins. To describe sin as "poison" is not new, but I was reminded of it reading a commentary on this Gospel passage. The commentator writes: "It is the terrible chemistry of the evil heart, distilling poisons, that ruins a life" (Halford E. Luccock, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, 1951). It is the terrible chemistry of our own hearts… and every heart, even the best of human hearts has some portion that does evil… it is the terrible chemistry of the evil in our own hearts distilling, brewing, poison within that ruins our own lives.

Jesus lists a significant collection of poisons that can ruin our lives. "Fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly." It’s an unsettling list and maybe a bit surprising. The commentary again: "Note particularly the last four of these poisons." Envy, slander, pride and folly. "It ought to be deeply disturbing that slander, pride, and foolishness rank right alongside of theft, murder and adultery as sins that defile. We are accustomed to think of them as minor matters, if we think of them at all. Here they are in Jesus’ list of major sins."

But "envy can be a cardinal sin," one that snowballs into greater and greater despair. It "has the power to sour life, to keep us from ever attaining the spirit of love which redeems" and frees. Slander is much more than just the purview of supermarket tabloids. Slander, the deliberate misrepresentation of another person, "is a form of murder, the assassination of character…. Its ill effects can never be measured. In a sense Jesus himself was crucified by slander."

"Pride is rightly listed as one of the seven deadly sins, because it blocks all spiritual growth." It is spiritually stupefying. "It seals up the gate to all growth—humility." Pride literally blocks our passage towards God. Foolishness or folly may hardly seem a grave poison. A lighthearted or carefree disposition is often seen as a positive trait. That’s not the sort of folly Jesus means. This sort of folly is a "perverse confusion of values, the foolish choice of lesser goods" over more valuable pursuits that are sacred and holy. It is "the reckless unconcern for the spiritual, the persistence in shopping" throughout life "for shoddy stuff."

Fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice or greed, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. Poisons that kill our hearts and souls, ruin our lives. The image of sin as poison is a powerful one. Chemical poisons are lethal and once introduced into the body we ourselves are absolutely powerless to stop their deadly progress. At various times in my life, I have spent a good bit of time in remote areas where rattlesnakes are common. I have also watched a lot of PBS murder mysteries where poison is the murder weapon of choice. Poison is lethal and, on our own, we cannot stop it. If you are twenty miles on foot in the wilderness and you are bitten by a rattlesnake your hopes are very slim. Maybe the snake didn’t get a good bite or inject much venom. Maybe the bite is on a far extremity, an ankle or toe. Maybe someone with you knows how to make a tourniquet which, at best, buys you a little time. Maybe, but highly unlikely, you somehow make it to a hospital in time. Maybe the hospital has the precise antivenom on hand. Or maybe not. Poison is lethal and we are powerless to prevent it.

The sin of an evil heart distills poison within. We try to pretend that the poison of sin is not lethal, that we are somehow not affected by its venom. That we can ignore or overcome the deadly power of sin. And maybe we can go through the motions of a life, but the poison of sin slowly and steadily kills our hearts and souls and, on our own, we are absolutely powerless to stop it. The poison of sin is lethal.

But there is an antidote. We’ve heard it these last five weeks in the sixth chapter of John. The bread of life and the cup of salvation. An antidote more powerful than the darkest and gravest of human sin. From John 6:51: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

The living bread from heaven given to us by God. The bread of life. The cup of salvation. The living presence of Christ accepted and dwelling in our hearts is a full and perfect antidote for the poison of sin. It is freely offered to us all. We just have to take it. Amen.