"Eating with Defiled Hands" (Mark 7)

Our scripture is from the 7^th chapter of Mark, but I’m going to start in the 6^th chapter.  Do you know what happens in the 6^th chapter of Mark?

In the 6^th chapter of Mark, Jesus is in a Jewish region near the Sea of Galilee, teaching a huge crowd of people out in the wilderness.  When he’s done, it’s late, and the people are hungry, and there’s no place to get food.  And yet, through the miracle of God’s grace, Jesus is able to provide food for those thousands of people out in the wilderness.

In the 7^th chapter of Mark, we hear a story about another feast.  This one is a more intimate gathering of Jesus and some Jewish leaders known as Pharisees.  The Pharisees were not clergy, but they were extremely religious.

One of the traditions of these very religious people was a ritual washing of hands before the meal.  This was a very old tradition, passed down through generations.

The purpose of the washing had nothing to do with germs.  It was symbolic, just like baptism, which has nothing to do with physical cleanliness.  It was a symbolic ritual that many of the Jewish elite took part in before eating.

As these Jewish elite washed their hands, it was a way of recognizing one another as fellow Jews.  “As a Jew I wash my hands; as a Jew you wash your hands.  Let us now partake of this Jewish meal together.”

But Jesus did not wash his hands on this occasion.  Jesus, and his disciples, probably did not wash on other occasions as well.  They did not observe the ritual.

Jesus and his disciples were Jews, of course; by not observing the ritual, they were insulting their hosts.  It was almost as if their host had extended their hand in greeting, but they had refused to return the handshake.  Or, it was as if their host had bowed to them in greeting, and instead of bowing in return, they just looked away.

So:  Why did Jesus and his disciples not wash?  Why did they not participate in the ritual?

The ritual washing was specifically a Jewish ritual.  Jesus was a Jew, and he did follow many Jewish practices; but his concern was with all people, not just the Jews, and he realized that the ritual washing was meant to exclude from the table those who were not Jews.

Consider this: the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6:  it took place in a Jewish region.  It was a Jewish meal.  All those present were Jews.  It’s followed by this story, of Jesus dining with the religious leaders, in chapter 7.  But in chapter 8, there is yet another meal…

In chapter 8, Jesus is again in a deserted place, with thousands of people who are hungry.  I’ve often wondered why the story of the miraculous feeding appears in Mark twice, since it is almost the same story each time.  But there is one important difference.

In chapter 6, the miraculous feeding is a Jewish meal in a Jewish region.  But in chapter 8, after the story of Jesus and his disciples refusing to wash, the miraculous feeding that takes place there happens in gentile territory, and includes people who were not Jews.

When Jesus and his disciples refuse to participate in the Jewish custom of not washing their hands, they are making a statement.  They are saying to the world that, in the kingdom of God, the table is open to all.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a gentile; you are welcome at the table.  It doesn’t matter if you know the ritual or not; you are welcome at the table.

So, after Jesus dines with the religious leaders and refuses to wash, he hosts a meal among non-Jews, people who do not even know about the washing ritual. 

Jesus does not wash, because it is a ritual that excludes.  That second miraculous feeding could not have taken place if Jesus had insisted on the ritual.  The ritual would have prevented him from welcoming everyone and sharing God’s love with everyone.  A ritual like that had to stop.

This is the amazing thing about the New Testament:  it consistently portrays God’s kingdom as a kingdom where barriers are broken down; a kingdom where the circle that divides who’s “in” and who’s “out” grows larger and larger, until there is no one left outside the circle, and all are inside.

It’s a repeated pattern:  from the Jews to the gentiles; from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.  The work of God’s kingdom is not done until everyone has been welcomed at the table.

The Disciples of Christ have always had an open table.  We welcome all to Christ’s table just as God has welcomed us.

World Communion Sunday reminds us that, at this table, everyone is welcome.  There is no judgment here.  We do not say to anyone, “You’re not good enough, you’re not worthy.”

When we gather around this table, we do so with people who are similar to us, and people who are different than us.  We gather with people we can see, and people who are thousands of miles away.  We gather with people who are present today, and people who lived in generations past.

A welcome invitation is at the heart of what we do and what we stand for.  Because “We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.  As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s table, as God has welcomed us.”