The Crux of the Matter (Matthew 15 - P 36)

In our reading today, we will observe the Pharisees and the scribes approach Jesus with more questions.  However, this time seems to be a bit  different.  Matthew does not indicate that they are coming to entrap or to test Jesus ... they are coming with an honest question ... one that has them mightily perplexed.  And the question cuts to the core of "What is religion?".  Read ...

Matthew 15: 1 - 20

How can a person approach God?  That's the question.  That's the crux of the matter.  How can mere human beings connect with God?  It is the question of all peoples - all religions - all faiths.  And it is the undercurrent in the question we meditate upon today.  

The Pharisees ask about hand washings.  Why such a seemingly inane question?  We have to explore a bit of the Jewish mindset at the time.  Approaching God was everything.  And approaching God required "cleanness".  If you were unclean - you were out.  Over the centuries elaborate ceremonies regarding washing your hands had developed.  Before an orthodox Jew ate, ceremonial hand washing had to take place.  If it did not, the "eater" was unclean because there was no way to know for sure if he had been in the presence of anything considered unclean.  Therefore before partaking of food the person would hold his hands - fingers pointing upward - and a bit of water was poured over the hands.  Then the hands would be turned - fingers pointing downward - and a bit of water was poured again so that the water dropped down.  Only then were the participant's hands "clean" and he could eat without concern over uncleanness entering his body.  It mattered to them.  Cleanness was everything.  The Pharisees could not fathom why Jesus' disciples did not follow the ritual ... the tradition.

Jesus does not directly answer their question.  He cuts to the heart of the problem.  Religion had evolved into a series of very elaborate traditions that had taken precedence over the true law from God.  William Barclay writes:  "To the scribes and Pharisees, worship was ritual and ceremonial law; to Jesus, worship was the clean heart and the loving life.  Here is the clash.  And that clash still exists."

I love the definition of worship stated by Archbishop William Temple:

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God to purge the imagination by the beauty of God to open the heart to the love of God, to devoted the will to the purpose of God.

Jesus turns to the crowd around him and reiterates, yet again, that God is most concerned about your heart.  He was then ... He still is!!  All evil thoughts and behaviors are born in the heart - not from missed ritual.

When religion is relegated to external regulations and forms, two deadly results happen.  First, it becomes too easy.  It is so much easier to follow regulations than it is to love the unlovely, to help the oppressed at the cost of one's own time and money and comfort and pleasure.  Also, religion becomes misleading.  One can live a life in the externals and harbor all kinds of bitterness and evil and immorality and pride in his/her heart - all the time being quite 'religious'.  We see it around us  ... we read of it  ... we experience it.

No wonder Jesus began his teachings with the words, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)  

Do you want to be a religious person?  I do.  I hope you do as well.  However, I pray that we will take seriously these words from Jesus and focus our attention on our hearts ... not our forms and rituals.  When a particular ritual is meaningful for you ... when it communicates the truth that lies behind it ... perform it openly.  Benefit from it.  But never forget that God looks to your heart ... always!  Pay attention to your heart today.  Confess the uncleanness that tries to set up permanent residency there.  Then ... worship.  And pray ...

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Wash me ... YOU wash me ... and I will be whiter than snow.