From the Inside Out

The scriptures referred to are Matthew 15:10-20.

I read a fascinating and chilling book called Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight. It was written by a brilliant woman who, when her promising career fell apart in her mid-20s, went to a psychiatrist and got diagnosed as a sociopath, which explained her self-destructive behavior. She uses a pen name because she is now a law professor and people tend to hold being a sociopath against you. But what I found enlightening was how this person thought and operated in her life. And, oddly enough, she was a regular churchgoer. She valued the religion she was brought up in because it teaches her how she should behave, which is difficult if you lack and therefore do not understand fear, regret and empathy.

People can go far in religious circles if they scrupulously obey the outward rules. But, like the music student lacking perfect pitch, they will always sound a false note here and there. Meticulous observance of the rules absent a feel for the spirit of the thing will always be a bit lifeless. I don't care how skillfully you do a paint-by-numbers copy of the Mona Lisa, you won't capture the genius of Da Vinci's original. Today the vast majority of Hollywood films are expertly done in regards to cinematography and special effects and action, but they often feel empty, don't they? It is still a rare film that captures your heart and makes you really feel what the characters are feeling.

Following rules can help. The residents of Judea, taken into exile by the Babylonians, did not assimilate as did their brothers, the so-called “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” The Israelites had been taken into exile by the Assyrians 200 years earlier and were never heard from again. One way the Jews preserved their community was by compiling and following the Torah. Even though many of the 613 laws derived from the books of Moses concerned the now-destroyed temple, 1600 miles away in Jerusalem, the rabbis expounded and expanded on the other ceremonial and ethical rules. By keeping the law assiduously the Jews kept their racial and religious identity.

While the Jews of the Old Testament were constantly forgetting God's law and straying from worshiping him alone, in contrast the Jews of Jesus' day made observance of the law the core of who they were as a people. Of course, they found the ceremonial parts much easier to keep than the moral parts. Jesus often points out the difference between the public performance of the Pharisees and scribes and what they did in private. Jesus quotes Isaiah, saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9; cf. Isaiah 29:13)

Laws can be abused. The film Just Mercy is the true story of an early case taken on by Bryan Stevenson. In it the young lawyer from Harvard is trying to overturn the conviction of a black man on death row for murder. It becomes pretty obvious that the case against him is very weak, depending on no physical evidence and 2 unreliable eyewitnesses, contradicted by a large group of people who were with the convicted man at a public function at the time of the murder. And yet Stevenson is hindered at every turn by the authorities, who use any legal trick to uphold the verdict rather than to seek the truth. Even when he gets the most damning witness to recant his testimony in court, the judge rules the witness lied during the appeal but not during the original trial. Eventually, Stevenson gets the DA to change his heart by an appeal to justice.

What is legal is not always moral and vice versa. That's what Jesus is getting at in our gospel passage today. The dietary laws take up a whole chapter in Leviticus (11) and 2/3 of a chapter in Deuteronomy (14). They are very specific and comprehensive and so they affected the everyday life of the average Jew. But even rabbis put them in a class of mitzvos or commandments they called choks. Unlike the commandments against immoral acts like murder and cheating and the commandments to help people, a chok is a mitzvah without apparent reason. Like the one prohibiting wearing clothes made from a blend of cotton and wool (Leviticus 19:19), rabbis admit that the Jewish dietary laws are observed simply because they are commanded.

And though it is not included in our lectionary reading, the actual thing that the Pharisees were criticizing was the fact that that Jesus' disciples were eating without first doing the elaborate handwashing that, while not in the Torah, was traditional. It was not to remove germs, whose existence was unknown to them, or even dirt. This handwashing was to undo any ritual uncleanness one might have incurred by, say, going to the market. Jesus' disciples weren't violating the Mosaic law but an extension of it.

So why did Jesus challenge this and make a big thing out of it? Because it was possible to follow the religious laws and be ritually clean but morally have dirty hands. In roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons there is a category called Lawful Evil. This refers to a character who follows the letter of the law but violates the spirit of it by gaming the system to achieve his own ends. He plays by the rules but without mercy, compassion or empathy, rather like a sociopath. Think Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, or any corrupt politician or legal authority that puts the desire for absolute order over people's basic rights and freedoms. Think of the cops who arrested ministers and priests in Ft. Lauderdale for operating a ministry that fed the homeless because the city commission told them to. Think anyone who does evil but whose excuse is “I was only following orders” or “But everything I did was legal.”

To Jesus what is more important than adhering to external rules is what is going on in the person's heart. He says, “For from out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.” In Mark's version there are 6 more evils mentioned: greed, malice, lewdness, envy, arrogance and folly. And in Mark “deceit” replaces “false witness.” Evil first pops into your mind before it comes out of your mouth or comes out in what you do.

That's why Jesus lists evil intentions first. First comes the thought and then comes permission to follow through on it. We all have thoughts of doing something wrong. Hopefully we decide against spreading gossip about someone, or cheating on our spouse, or taking home office supplies from work, or cheating on an exam, or padding our expense account, or poisoning the neighbor's constantly barking dog, or getting in a fight at the store about wearing a mask. But it all starts with a thought.

Billy Graham once said that he couldn't keep a bird from flying over his head but he could prevent it from building a nest in his hair. Bad thoughts often flicker through our minds and sometimes they take us unawares. Usually we dismiss them. The trouble starts when you entertain the thought, brood about it, fantasize about it, start working out a plan of how you would carry it out. The Las Vegas shooter was not acting on impulse. Nor is the person who registers at a hotel under a false name with a person who is not their spouse. Nor is someone who embezzles. Nor is someone who comes up with an elaborate cover story to hide what they've done.

It comes down to what we call “character.” What kind of person are you? Are you honest? Reliable? Willing to listen to the perspectives of others? Conscientious? Compassionate? Consistent but not rigid? Committed to doing the right thing for all? Do you have self-control? People trust those of good character. They can't read their hearts but their pattern of behavior in the past leads them to expect the same behavior now and in the future.

These qualities come from the heart, as do evil qualities. How a person speak and acts depends on which qualities prevail. But ideally only good should come from the heart. So the question is: what can clean a person's heart of evil? God gives the answer in Ezekiel. “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27) We need a change of heart. We need a new spirit, God's Spirit, in control of our minds and hearts.

John the Baptizer said, “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I—I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Baptism is not for physical bathing but is for cleansing one spiritually. And the agent of the cleansing is the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized by fire. As fire refines silver and gold, the Spirit refines our hearts, separating out the impurities.

In defending the mission to the Gentiles, Peter says, “And God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between them and us, cleansing their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:8-9) Paul wrote of the previous immoral lives of the church members in Corinth and then said, “Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11) To his colleague Titus Paul writes, “he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6)

The Spirit cleanses us and gives us a change of heart. If we let him take control, we will find that new thoughts will come to us: thoughts of how to serve, not ourselves, but God and those created in his image. As Paul says,“Do not seek your own good but the good of the other person.” (1 Corinthians 10:24) And again he says, “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Following Jesus has always been about transformation of the person. After all the Greek word for “repent” literally means “change your mind; think differently.” And that's how you change the outer person: by changing the inner person. Ultimately that's how you change the world: by changing people. Changing rules certainly helps but as we've seen people unwilling to change can learn to game the system. For instance, right now there's a lot of effort to change the language we use to refer to people. That's good and, as someone pointed out, if a person says a label is offensive believe them and use an acceptable term. But as Patton Oswalt has pointed out, clever racists and sexists learn the new language and use it but don't change their underlying attitudes. Look at how many times the proper term for African Americans has changed in the last century and a half. Racism and racist systems did not disappear magically. Hearts and minds must be changed or else any changes on the surface are lies.

“If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation...” (2 Corinthians 5:17) But just as a baby is new and yet has not achieved its ultimate form, we begin as “babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1) and have to grow. (1 Peter 2:2) When Jesus said, “Therefore you shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48) another way to translate the Greek word for “perfect” is “mature or fully grown.” Becoming Christlike is a process of growth.

And it is not automatic; it is intentional. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, emphasis mine) The twelve step programs, which take a lot of their ideas from Christianity, also speak of taking things “one day at a time,” Jesus is saying we must make the commitment to disown ourselves and take up our cross every day. And as Jesus carried his cross for us, so our cross is not our personal problems, but the burdens we bear for the sake of others. Or as Paul says, “Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

And that's another thing: there are no Lone Ranger Christians. The Christian life is not meant to be lived apart from the body of Christ. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8), Jesus Christ is the very image of God (Hebrews 1:3), and we are to be like Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) To be Christlike is to embody God's love and you can't do that separate from other people. Moreover, what we do to others or neglect to do, we do or neglect to do to Jesus. (Matthew 25:40, 45) We serve Jesus by serving others.

Spoiler alert! In the series finale to the TV show Agents of SHIELD, our heroes are outnumbered by emotionless robots come to wipe out all life on earth. Like all superheroes you expect them to fight the bad guys. But when they get access to the robots' programming, instead of shutting them down, or causing them to self-destruct, our heroes give them empathy. And their enemies become their friends and throw down their weapons.

Human beings are forever trying to fix internal problems with external solutions. Usually by using strict laws and force. And it never works. God knows that if you change the internal programming, it will change how a person thinks and speak and acts.

But we are not robots. We have a choice. We can keep doing the same thing over and over and get the same results time and again. Or we can open our hearts to the Spirit of God in Christ and let him change us. It won't be instantaneous, any more than a mustard seed turns into a mature shrub overnight. But if we don't smother it, if we nurture our life in the Spirit with prayer and scripture and worship and service, we will be transformed. As it says in 1 John, “Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.” (1 John 3:2) In that day, what we are inside will match what we are outside, and we will be who we were always meant to be, a vast mosaic of glorious beings coming together as a living image of the God who is love whom we first saw in our incarnate, crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ.