Spiritually Speaking - You Aren't What You Eat, But You Are If Jesus Is Feeding You
Mark 7:8-9
"You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
Premise: Evil things that are in the man's heart are what defile him spiritually. Not what's in his belly.
Jesus enters a woman's house, a Greek woman who had begged Jesus to remove the unclean spirit that had possessed her daughter. But because she's a gentile, a Syrophoenician woman, Jesus essentially refers to her as a dog. Like one of the wild scavenger dogs that attack people and livestock around the countryside. This term dog was a well-known derogatory term for gentile people and would had have been completely understood by her, especially coming from a Jew.
But did Jesus say that?
The word Jesus used was different, it was a term having to do with the little family pets that hung around under the dining room table looking to snatch up bits of food that fall to the floor.
In that culture, in those times, very often people would eat with their hands. And of course, in doing so you're bound to get some grease and gravy on your hands by the time you've finished eating. The custom was to take a portion of bread and use it like a napkin. You'd wipe up your fingers and then you'd toss the bread to the little doggies under the table.
So, what Jesus is saying is, he's bringing the Good News to his people, his children (The Jews), not to the little scavenging puppies under the table.
Mark 7:27
"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs."
He's saying that he's bringing the gospel to the Jews, not the gentiles. But he says this almost in anticipation of her reply. It seems to me that Jesus knew her heart and was leading her into this public proclamation about faith.
The gentile woman says...
Mark 7:28
"Lord," she replied, "even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs."
Somehow, she understood that faith has a universality to it. It cannot be trapped by nationality, or religious dogma and traditions. She probably didn't fully realize what she was saying, but for us who have the benefit of our biblical studies and histories, we can instantly understand that the gospel is not limited to any one religious system, or dogmatic organization.
And so, Jesus...
Mark 7:29
Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."
Faith did that. A gentile, outside the orchestrated operations of the temple, kind of faith. Not faith that was generated in a church. And it was able to do that because faith is an outside the box thing. It comes from heaven, not from men. It reaches who it wants, not following any organized patterns and processes. Not by a church methodology. Not confined to any human patterns and norms. And certainly not taking orders from sinners dressed up in whitewashed tombs.
Take for instance what Mark's gospel tells us next.
Later on, Jesus comes across a man. A man who was deaf and could hardly talk. The crowds of people begged Jesus to heal him like he'd done so many times before. But Jesus doesn't do things in exactly the same manner as he did before. In fact, he doesn't immediately touch and heal the man as the crowd begged him to do. They had seen him heal before and they we're expecting a patterned response. Just like when the Jews saw people healed in the wilderness from snake bites when they looked upon the serpent on a pole. They expected the patterned response. And eventually that pattern became their worship. And God unblessed it.
Mark 7:33-35
After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.
People are always looking for a method to establish for themselves a pattern that can be reproduced. Especially in spiritual matters. If you can organize it, you can observe it, and you can control it. You can manage it, and maybe even develop a distribution plan for managing the right outcomes.
God doesn't want our patterns of spirituality. He doesn't want our many repeated sacrifices and sacramental patterns. He doesn't need our help in distributing his grace. The distribution of His Grace is organized and managed by The Holy Spirit, not by any man-made institutions that blur and distract grace.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
God did that. Not "the church". The same Spirit that motivates a spiritual gift to activate in the heart of a Roman Catholic, is the same Spirit that charges and encourages a Protestant with the gifts of the Spirit. All these graces are given and distributed by The Holy Spirit for the common good of everyone. He (The Spirit) empowers them all.
There are diversities of gifts among diverse people, being used in diverse ways, among diverse communities of Christian faith. God refuses to be locked into human patterns and traditions. And we shouldn't be trying to conform Him into our many religious traditions. I could argue that we have so many institutions because God is continually reforming the church that has blurred the gospel with their patterns and traditions trying to administer grace according to their own strengths.
1 Corinthians 12:11
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."
Jesus prayed for us all that we should be unified in this one truth, this one Spirit. Not in some magic formulaic pattern. God doesn't work by formulas he works by his sovereign grace and power. The only pattern is the power that flows from one person of the trinity to the next.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
We may be Jew, we may be gentile, little children, or little doggies under the table, but One Spirit baptizes all into the body of Christ through faith. If you're looking for a pattern to follow, follow this...
It's not inspiration alone that leads us into faith. The content of inspiration is the crucial criterion.
As pagans they were once, somehow or other, led astray to mute idols (v.2). They were "inspired" by those pagan idols and traditions that became popular among the majority of the people. Popular church culture isn't necessarily inspired and influenced by The Holy Spirit. The fact of inspiration, being influenced and led, is no evidence that one is either spiritual or Christian. It's the content of that faith that makes it Holy and good. And especially as it pertains to the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not all spirits are holy. The content is alive and powerful and conforms only to the scriptures which give witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9
"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
If you need a formula, there it is.
Jesus sent The Holy Spirit to manifest his word to the people who confess his name. The Spirit brings remembrance of these things. He goes where He wants to go, no manmade pattern schedules His comings and goings. He has His own will, and His own willingness.
1 Corinthians 12:11
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."
"As He wills..."
"Individually"
He does that. And He seals it in heaven. He seals the elect.
Ephesians 1:13
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit."
God did create a community of believers, and he did intend that they operate in His authority. The church is God’s faith community. It is founded and built upon Jesus Christ, the Mediator of every spiritual blessing. And he did and does this in order to prepare his children for heavenly places. So, the church is a culture of preparation, not a pattern of spirituality. It's a means for growing and maturing faith in Christ. It's meant to nurture faith.
He accomplishes this by revealing faith to us by the works of The Holy Spirit. He helps us to pray. He helps us to know God's will. He helps us to understand the scriptures. He helps us to practice our faith through spiritual gifts. And he helps us to finish our walk in Christ by teaching us about holiness. This plan of God's was that we should be holy and blameless in his sight, not only absolved of our guilt, but sharing in the nature of the Trinity. Complete and full of Grace. And so he sent his Son Jesus to complete and finish that work. And now His Spirit empowers us to witness to Him and encourage faith in others. That's our "pattern" of faith. To go and preach the good news. To be moved by The Holy Spirit into His image.
Church...we're all little doggies under the table fighting over the scraps.
Stop it!