Jesus was constantly at odds with the religious leaders of His day. They regularly tried to entrap Him to disobey their laws and turn the public against Him. Each time though, Jesus masterfully refuted their words, amazing the people with His wisdom.
On one such occasion, they observed His disciples were not following their tradition of hand washing. A form of religious cleansing. There were also other such traditions Jesus and His disciples did not observe, which drew strong criti- cism from the religious leaders. Jesus responded by publicly rebuking them through quoting the Old Testament Scriptures, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Mark 7:6-7) Jesus was pointing out how they put so much effort into following their outward traditions, they neglected the inward condition of their heart. Jesus called this hypocrisy, which means – acting. He accused them of being religious actors, focusing on their outward acts, and that of others, but overlooking what is most important.
Are we any different? It is easy for us to do the same by strictly focusing on the outward. There have been entire religious systems built on this. Spiritual leaders have gathered large followings telling people if they do such and such then their sins will be forgiven, they will have the assurance of heaven in the afterlife, be granted physical healing or given financial provision. Is that true? Can helping the poor, taking Holy Communion, attending religious services, praying several times a day, observing specific moral standards, being baptized or engaging in other worthy activities make us acceptable before God?
Read what Jesus said to His own followers in clarifying where the religious leaders got it wrong, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mk. 7:20-23) Jesus stated the problem of the human condition is within. It is a problem of the heart. This is what makes us unclean and unacceptable before God. But mistakenly, we engage in outward religious acts believing they can inwardly cleanse. In other words, we believe we can save ourselves.
The things in your heart that defile you is what leaves you condemned before God. No religious ritual or tradition of any sort, done as perfectly and consistently as possible, can cleanse your heart. God has told us what it takes, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1) Justified by faith means you can obtain cleansing and good standing with God only by faith in His Son. You cannot save yourself, only Jesus can. If you will turn from trusting in yourself, your religion, your good works, and trust wholly in Christ, then you can be cleansed and have peace with God. Christ came to suffer, die and rise again for you. Only His blood that was shed on the cross can cleanse you from within, and nothing else.
A prayer for you – Lord God, we confess our efforts at focusing on the outward, believing that through those we can make ourselves acceptable to You. We turn from that belief and trust in Christ alone. We admit we are not good enough, but agree that Jesus is, and that He alone has the power to save us. In His Mighty name. Amen.
— Clint Decker is President of Great Awakenings. Please share your comment at cdecker@greatawakenings. org and follow his blog at clintdecker.blogspot. com.
