Living in the Spirit

August 28, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the g tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘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.”
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’ –Mark 7:1-8

The experts recommend washing hands and using hand sanitizer as a response to the COVID pandemic. The use of social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing has proved to be a boon in preventing other contagious diseases. I have bad sinuses, and sometime in March, when they are at their worst responding to allergens, I had few problems at all. I attributed that to the COVID precautions and will be wearing my masks this fall to protect from allergens. Many of the religious rituals like hand washing became standard practice probably because observant people recognized that disease was reduced when hands were washed. And that was a good thing. I have always thought the rules about not eating pork grew out of recognizing that eating pork killed people. We now know that it was not the pork but the worms, Trichinosis, inhabiting the pigs that were the deadly culprit. Changing cooking methods killed the worms and made pork safer to eat.

When we read this, most of us think we should wash our hands before we handle food. That is not Jesus’ point. Jesus wants us to be healthy but being precautious about germs or worms is not a substitute for the commandment of God. Jesus told us the overriding commandment of all is loving God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. Indeed, one way we can love our neighbors is not to expose them to deadly diseases. God expects more out of us than obeying healthy habits or not, especially when it involves protecting our neighbors and ourselves from harm’s way.

Prayer: Lord, help us make your priorities our priorities. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.