September 2, 2012 at Calvary
Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
“And [Jesus] said, ‘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 thing come from within, and
they defile a person.’”
“Garbage in; garbage out” is a
familiar phrase. I learned it back when first using computers back in junior
high and high school. The phrase refers to data and commands when programming and
running programs. If the data is wrong, the computations based on them will be “correct”
but not what is intended. If the commands are incorrect, the program will not
function as desired. The “garbage”—the incorrect things—that is put in will
lead to the “garbage”—the incorrect results—that is put out.
The “garbage in; garbage out”
concept has been expanded beyond computer science or information technology. Any
field that involves analysis or manipulation of data can use it. But the
concept even comes into thoughts about sin. This is seen in Jesus’
confrontation with the Pharisees that we have heard last Sunday and this
morning. The issue of defilement was the point of contention. What makes a
person unclean or defiled before the Lord?
Last Sunday, the question focused on what was done or not done prior to eating.
Today, the question focuses on the eating itself.
So is the defilement of man a
matter of “garbage in; garbage out”? That appears to be the general concept
among the people that Jesus addresses. Eat an unclean food, and you will become
unclean. But Jesus’ statement counters that: “And He called the people to Him again and said to them, ‘Hear Me, all
of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into
him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile
him.’” Nothing outside a person that goes into them defiles the person. Instead,
things that are already inside the person are what make him unclean.
This was a complete adjustment
in thinking that Jesus gives the people. In fact, it confused His own
disciples: “And when [Jesus] had entered
the house and left the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable.”
You can see what the Twelve were thinking: “Wait a minute! How is it possible
that a person can eat something unclean but not have it make him unclean? What
are you saying here, Jesus?” What their Master said ran against what the
disciples had been taught for years. It stood against what the scribes and
Pharisees had been handing down to the people for generations. It even seemed
to contradict what Moses had spoken in the Law.
But Jesus’ explanation of His
statement starts to show the truth about it: “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot
defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”
Jesus is saying here: “Think about it. You all eat food. And where does that food
go? It goes in your belly, but it doesn’t stay there. No, it leaves the belly
and enters the latrine. However, the defilement of man is something much more
deeper than that. Defilement has to do with lack of holiness or righteousness.”
The deeper issue of defilement
is what Jesus addresses with His explanation: “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 thing come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus
deals with the matter of man’s nature, what is in people’s hearts and souls. With
His words, Jesus is saying: “Take a look at your own heart. Look closely. What’s
in there? All sorts of problematic thoughts, all sorts of desires that are
unrighteous. Deep down in there you have the craving and yearning for doing
what the Lord has declared to be
vices. But what the Lord declares
to be virtuous are not naturally found.”
Jesus points out that the
defilement of man is already there. It’s not a matter of “garbage in; garbage
out.” No, the junk, the scum, the vileness are already in the heart. It’s not
like you have a clean vessel that you tarnish. No, it is as Bo Giertz so vividly
put it in his Hammer of God book: “The
heart is a rusty old can on a junk heap.” Your heart is full of sludge from the
moment you live. You’ve got all those evil desires latent in you. So it should
be no surprise that actions based on those thoughts flow out of you. Hearing
and receiving Jesus’ teaching leads to the statement that you make in the
Confession of Sins: “We poor sinners confess unto You that we are by nature
sinful and unclean and that we have sinned against You by thought, word, and
deed.” Sinful and unclean—it is the admission that you are defiled. You are
defiled in the Lord’s presence
because of what you naturally are, because of how your heart is.
So what is to be done about this
matter of defilement? Because Jesus says that what comes out of the heart of
man defiles an individual, the problem can’t be remedied by adjustment of
behavior or adjustment of diet. It’s not the external actions that really make
a person unrighteous. And it’s not what you ingest that defiles you. No, the problem
is what to do with the cesspool of your hearts, the cesspool that has been
there since your first days. What is the bleach or detergent that can work on
that?
What you need is something that
enters you but doesn’t go into your belly, but into your heart. It has to be
something holy and undefiled. It must have the ability to give life where
nothing but death is found, to bring into existence righteousness where there
is none found. This is what the Lord
offers to you in His Gospel. You need the forgiveness that it brings because
the Holy One offered Himself in sacrifice for you.
Your defiled hearts need a
cleansing, and that is what the Lord
gives you. Think again on the words of Scripture connected to Holy Baptism that
you learned from the catechism: “God
saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He
poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having
been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal
life.” A washing of rebirth and renewal is precisely what your defiled
hearts have received. You are cleansed as you heard in last Sunday’s Epistle
Reading: “[Christ] cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself
in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy
and without blemish.”
You have taken in the divine
words of the gospel. They have been ingested into your hearts. And what are
those words of the gospel? They are the descriptions of who Jesus is and what
He has done. They are what you have heard concerning Jesus’ nature: that He did
not have a defiled heart, but a heart that always desired to do the Father’s
will. They are what you have heard concerning Jesus’ work: that He marked His
life with everything opposite of that list of evil thoughts that flow out of
the heart of man. Out of your hearts flow “sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality,
envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” But out of Jesus’ heart come purity,
generosity, the giving of life, complete devotion, the wanting others to have
what possesses, goodness, truth, spirituality, joy, speaking well, humility,
and wisdom. They are given to be your own. That is what the gospel words apply
to you.
But this taking in the gospel
words is not just a one-time deal. It is a repeated action. Over and over the
cleansing of your defiled hearts happens. The cleansing begun in Holy Baptism
is renewed in Holy Absolution and your hearing of the preaching of the gospel.
It happens through your eating—not by eating an earthly food, but by eating the
bread that came down from heaven, Christ’s flesh that He gave for the life of
the world. Washing and repeating over and over again, you receive the cleansing
that your defiled hearts need. This is what brings you holiness. Through them a
divine action is done for you, as Bo Giertz also vividly described in his novel:
“But a wonderful Lord passes by, and has mercy on the wretched tin can, sticks
His walking cane through it, and rescues it from the junk pile and takes it
home with Him.” Or as Moses spoke about the Lord’s
people, even you: “For what great nation
is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord
our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him?” He is near, when you call
upon Him to perform His cleansing acts for your benefit.
Then the change happens to your
nature. Yes, you are by nature sinful and unclean. But now you have another nature,
a new and holy nature given to you. You are a new person who daily emerges and
arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. There are new
thoughts, clean thoughts, righteous thoughts. There are even actions that you
perform that flow from that new nature. You have the desire to follow the way
of life that the Lord has
established for you, so that you can say with the psalmist: “Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore
my soul keeps them.” It is a statement true for you as the Lord has brought cleansing to your
hearts. You want what the Lord
provides, so you have prayed: “O God, the source of all that is just and good,
nourish in us every virtue and bring to completion every good intent that we
may grow in grace and bring forth the fruit of good works.” Your hearts and
souls now have a “righteousness in; righteousness out” status.
So as you have heard Jesus’
words today, recognize that your guilt is great and that your hearts were
nothing but defiled. But also know that His righteousness is greater than your
guilt and that His cleansing has made them holy. This is the extent of His
generosity, even daring to pick up the wretched tin cans and making them His
prized possessions. You have generously received the washing of rebirth and renewal.
Treasure it. Remember it. Trust it. For from outside yourselves, you have
received righteousness from Jesus, the Holy One of God. And He has cleansed you
to be His own.
+ In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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