13th Sunday after Pentecost
Vicar Gary Schultz
Text: Mark 7:14-23
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus called the people to him again and said to them: …the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
The human heart – the nature of a person – doesn’t fare too well in today’s Holy Gospel. Jesus’ words do not paint a lovely picture of His creation always waiting for the best way to honor Him, to come to Him in faith, or to serve and care for our neighbors. This lesson does not show that we are basically good people, ready to give our hearts to Jesus and follow Him with undivided attention. Often we hear people say, “Oh, I think that inside every person is some good.”
We are certainly capable of doing things that look good on our own. At times, many people perform works of charity and kindness in the realm of our society – even non- Christians. Often, however, these works are done with the wrong motive – that we will look good or be praised. Even when the motives are genuine human concern, they do not proceed from perfect love for God and our neighbors. These works that appear good do not come from a clean heart. These works that appear good do not give us a holy standing before God.
From birth, the heart of every person by itself is sinful. What is inside every person is what defiles them. What is inside every person is what makes them unclean and unrighteous before God. The presence of apparent good works without Christ is not the same as righteousness before God.
A few years ago, there was a popular “contemporary Christian” song which said this in the refrain: “It is the cry of my heart to follow You, It is the cry of my heart to be close to You, It is the cry of my heart to follow all of the days of my life.” These may be some nice thoughts or wishful thinking. But Jesus says: “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.”
It is not the natural cry of our hearts to follow God. It is the cry of our hearts to follow our own sinful desires. It is not the cry of our hearts to be close to God. It is the cry of our hearts to go away from Him. It is not the cry of our hearts to follow Him all the days of our lives. It is the cry of our hearts follow our own desires all the days of our lives.
We’d like to think that our hearts are OK. Are we content with the daily bread that God has blessed us with, or do we covet what we don’t have and cry out for more? Are we humble and content in the work in our jobs and volunteering, or do we cry out in pride for more recognition and appreciation? Do we explain everything in the kindest way, or do we cry out in slander, hurting our neighbor through gossip? Are we generous in helping others, fair in our work, and assisting our neighbor and his possessions, or do we steal from our employer by giving our work less than our best effort, cheating on keeping track of wages, and get things wrongfully from our neighbor? Do we help and defend those who are defenseless, unborn, or elderly, or do we fail at doing all we can to protect them from murder by allowing for abortion and euthanasia to occur? Do we honor our marriages as Christ commands, or do we commit adultery by lusting, being unfaithful to our spouse, or through divorce? Are we truthful in all of our conversations, or do we deceive people by exaggerating or embellishing the truth? Are we content with having our needs met, or do we give into sensuality and indulge in things we don’t need, putting our “wish lists” ahead of God?
We are defiled people. Not by what goes into us. Our hearts are already defiled within us. We must confess with the Psalmist: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). From the very beginning of our lives, even before we are born, our default setting is to sin and to defile ourselves. Our sinful nature shows itself in our unclean thoughts, words, and deeds. Under the power of sin, we can do nothing but unclean works – works that demonstrate that we are defiled, unclean, and ruined. God’s once-perfect creation has been ruined – changed from holy and perfect to impure and defiled.
How are we to keep the Lord’s word: “Listen to the statutes and the just decrees that I am teaching you, and do them that you may live…”? If we can’t help but be defiled by the evil proceeding from us, how are we going to stop? How are we who are defiled to become clean?
We pray with David: “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.” (Ps 51:3, 9). On our own, there is nothing we can do to become clean, pure, and undefiled. Sometimes we may think that we can work hard enough to make things better on our own. We would like to think that it’s up to us. If we can just try hard enough, like a New Year’s resolution, we become better – even undefiled – people! If we would just follow the right steps, the right method, the right program, we would get ourselves back on track. We’d like to look at the Law as some suggestions for doing things better, rather than telling us that we are unmistakably helpless and hopeless to fix this on our own.
No, to become undefiled, we must look not inside ourselves but beyond ourselves. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts… Ever since the fall into sin, God had a plan to deliver mankind. Jesus Christ, God’s own true Son, was sent to earth to be defiled by the shame and death of the cross. His sinless body became sin for us, that we might be pure.
Because Jesus was true God and true Man, His human nature was not defiled within with sin. As true God, He was perfect, holy, sinless, and undefiled. He was the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God, that would be offered up as a sacrifice to cleanse His people. Sin did come upon Jesus from outside. There was no sin coming out of His heart. On the cross, Jesus was defiled for your sins – your evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. As the perfect Man, Jesus paid for all of the sins of defiled mankind. As true God, Jesus was able to appease the wrath of God that our sins deserved.
What comes out of this Man does not defile Him. What comes out of this Man is what cleanses us from our defilement. On the cross, the blood and water poured out of our crucified Lord’s pierced side. What came out of us, defiled Him. What comes out of Him, makes us perfect.
The blood out of Jesus’ side is given to us for the remission of sins, and He gives it to us to drink of it today. The water out of Jesus’ side washes us in the font in the waters of Holy Baptism. This water is a flood that drowns our sin in the grave with Christ and rises us with His resurrection to new life. Undefiled, clean, and holy: that’s what we now are because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
And so, in Christ, we have new lives. Our old lives were crucified with Christ. This changes our evil works. Our new life in Christ does away with the works that defiled us. Our new life in Christ is filled with the fruits of the spirit. Our freedom and purity in Christ sets us free to gladly do those things of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Now the sinful cry of our hearts is crushed and done away with, and we are filled with the spirit to rightly pray with David: “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds… Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Ps 108:1, 3-4, 8).
Let us give thanks to God for delivering us from our defiled hearts that cry out evil, and cleansing us through the blood of His Son, Our Lord Jesus, shed on the cross for the remission of our sins. By His grace we are no longer defiled, but clean and holy to stand before our heavenly Father. We are now delivered from sin into eternal life. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.
Text: Mark 7:14-23
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus called the people to him again and said to them: …the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
The human heart – the nature of a person – doesn’t fare too well in today’s Holy Gospel. Jesus’ words do not paint a lovely picture of His creation always waiting for the best way to honor Him, to come to Him in faith, or to serve and care for our neighbors. This lesson does not show that we are basically good people, ready to give our hearts to Jesus and follow Him with undivided attention. Often we hear people say, “Oh, I think that inside every person is some good.”
We are certainly capable of doing things that look good on our own. At times, many people perform works of charity and kindness in the realm of our society – even non- Christians. Often, however, these works are done with the wrong motive – that we will look good or be praised. Even when the motives are genuine human concern, they do not proceed from perfect love for God and our neighbors. These works that appear good do not come from a clean heart. These works that appear good do not give us a holy standing before God.
From birth, the heart of every person by itself is sinful. What is inside every person is what defiles them. What is inside every person is what makes them unclean and unrighteous before God. The presence of apparent good works without Christ is not the same as righteousness before God.
A few years ago, there was a popular “contemporary Christian” song which said this in the refrain: “It is the cry of my heart to follow You, It is the cry of my heart to be close to You, It is the cry of my heart to follow all of the days of my life.” These may be some nice thoughts or wishful thinking. But Jesus says: “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.”
It is not the natural cry of our hearts to follow God. It is the cry of our hearts to follow our own sinful desires. It is not the cry of our hearts to be close to God. It is the cry of our hearts to go away from Him. It is not the cry of our hearts to follow Him all the days of our lives. It is the cry of our hearts follow our own desires all the days of our lives.
We’d like to think that our hearts are OK. Are we content with the daily bread that God has blessed us with, or do we covet what we don’t have and cry out for more? Are we humble and content in the work in our jobs and volunteering, or do we cry out in pride for more recognition and appreciation? Do we explain everything in the kindest way, or do we cry out in slander, hurting our neighbor through gossip? Are we generous in helping others, fair in our work, and assisting our neighbor and his possessions, or do we steal from our employer by giving our work less than our best effort, cheating on keeping track of wages, and get things wrongfully from our neighbor? Do we help and defend those who are defenseless, unborn, or elderly, or do we fail at doing all we can to protect them from murder by allowing for abortion and euthanasia to occur? Do we honor our marriages as Christ commands, or do we commit adultery by lusting, being unfaithful to our spouse, or through divorce? Are we truthful in all of our conversations, or do we deceive people by exaggerating or embellishing the truth? Are we content with having our needs met, or do we give into sensuality and indulge in things we don’t need, putting our “wish lists” ahead of God?
We are defiled people. Not by what goes into us. Our hearts are already defiled within us. We must confess with the Psalmist: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). From the very beginning of our lives, even before we are born, our default setting is to sin and to defile ourselves. Our sinful nature shows itself in our unclean thoughts, words, and deeds. Under the power of sin, we can do nothing but unclean works – works that demonstrate that we are defiled, unclean, and ruined. God’s once-perfect creation has been ruined – changed from holy and perfect to impure and defiled.
How are we to keep the Lord’s word: “Listen to the statutes and the just decrees that I am teaching you, and do them that you may live…”? If we can’t help but be defiled by the evil proceeding from us, how are we going to stop? How are we who are defiled to become clean?
We pray with David: “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.” (Ps 51:3, 9). On our own, there is nothing we can do to become clean, pure, and undefiled. Sometimes we may think that we can work hard enough to make things better on our own. We would like to think that it’s up to us. If we can just try hard enough, like a New Year’s resolution, we become better – even undefiled – people! If we would just follow the right steps, the right method, the right program, we would get ourselves back on track. We’d like to look at the Law as some suggestions for doing things better, rather than telling us that we are unmistakably helpless and hopeless to fix this on our own.
No, to become undefiled, we must look not inside ourselves but beyond ourselves. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts… Ever since the fall into sin, God had a plan to deliver mankind. Jesus Christ, God’s own true Son, was sent to earth to be defiled by the shame and death of the cross. His sinless body became sin for us, that we might be pure.
Because Jesus was true God and true Man, His human nature was not defiled within with sin. As true God, He was perfect, holy, sinless, and undefiled. He was the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God, that would be offered up as a sacrifice to cleanse His people. Sin did come upon Jesus from outside. There was no sin coming out of His heart. On the cross, Jesus was defiled for your sins – your evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. As the perfect Man, Jesus paid for all of the sins of defiled mankind. As true God, Jesus was able to appease the wrath of God that our sins deserved.
What comes out of this Man does not defile Him. What comes out of this Man is what cleanses us from our defilement. On the cross, the blood and water poured out of our crucified Lord’s pierced side. What came out of us, defiled Him. What comes out of Him, makes us perfect.
The blood out of Jesus’ side is given to us for the remission of sins, and He gives it to us to drink of it today. The water out of Jesus’ side washes us in the font in the waters of Holy Baptism. This water is a flood that drowns our sin in the grave with Christ and rises us with His resurrection to new life. Undefiled, clean, and holy: that’s what we now are because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
And so, in Christ, we have new lives. Our old lives were crucified with Christ. This changes our evil works. Our new life in Christ does away with the works that defiled us. Our new life in Christ is filled with the fruits of the spirit. Our freedom and purity in Christ sets us free to gladly do those things of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Now the sinful cry of our hearts is crushed and done away with, and we are filled with the spirit to rightly pray with David: “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds… Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Ps 108:1, 3-4, 8).
Let us give thanks to God for delivering us from our defiled hearts that cry out evil, and cleansing us through the blood of His Son, Our Lord Jesus, shed on the cross for the remission of our sins. By His grace we are no longer defiled, but clean and holy to stand before our heavenly Father. We are now delivered from sin into eternal life. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
9/09/2006
