What does the world think of us?

by    11th November 2009    0 responses
Part of the series

marathon

Image: Martineric @ Flickr

Mark 7:1-23   Expand passage

1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

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A friend of mine was talking to me recently about insurance. He asked me whether I had any insurance policies, to which my reply was “Yes, of course, I have car insurance and household insurance.” His reply was “Isn’t that against your religion?” He went on to explain that having insurance meant that I didn’t trust God completely, because I had backup plans in case God didn’t protect me.

Actually, there is an interesting point behind that, about how much we trust God, but that’s not what I want to focus on here. What was central to the argument my friend was putting across was that he had a slightly skewed understanding of what Christians believe. It wasn’t his faith, after all, so all he had was heresay and rumours to inform him.

The Pharisees we find in Mark 7:1-23, who were still following Jesus around like the smell of yesterday’s pizza, were in a similar position of misunderstanding. They were under the impression that eating with unwashed hands made a person sinful in God’s sight. That idea came from a “tradition of men” and a misconstrued meaning taken from various passages in the Old Testament. I suppose you can’t blame them entirely for that, it was so ingrained in their religious doctrine that they probably never thought to question it. The problem comes when those “traditions of men” become stumbling blocks to non-believers, preventing them from coming to God.

Take a look around and you’ll find the same problem in our society today. There are all manner of preconceptions about Christians, many of which actually aren’t true. People think that Christians aren’t allowed to get angry. People think that Christians aren’t allowed to have sex before marriage or get divorced. People think that Christians never swear. People think that all Christians are against evolution and the Big Bang Theory. People think that Christians don’t watch pornography. People think that Christians think homosexuality is an illness that can be cured. People think that Christians are weak-willed and need a crutch to get by in life. People think that Christians ignore scientific evidence in favour of ‘feelings’ and ancient doctrine that doesn’t make any sense. People think that the Bible is full of people killing each other.

Where you stand on the issues above is perhaps a topic (or several!) for the forum. But what I want to stress is that those outside the church get their views of Christianity from two main sources.

Firstly, the media. In the news, all you usually hear about the church is the latest vicar to be found guilty of child molestation or sexual abuse. In the cinema we have Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ, which was gratuitously violent, in a language no one understands, devoid of comedy, and isn’t something that modern man can connect with. On TV, we have Ned Flanders. It’s no wonder that people have an incomplete picture of what we believe – the media only chooses to show the bits it finds interesting, which aren’t necessarily the bits that will prompt viewers to think about salvation.

What can we do about the media? Not a lot. Unless you are a television channel controller or a film producer.

The second source is probably the most influential – you. If your friends, family and colleagues know that you’re a Christian, they will be watching your every move. They might not realise it, but their opinion of Christians will be based on how you live your life. Whenever you do something that they wouldn’t do, “that’s because you’re a Christian”. Whenever you have a belief that they don’t share, “that’s because you’re a Christian”. Whenever you choose to do something that no one else does, “that’s because you’re a Christian”.

Another of my friends asked me a while ago whether I liked him. He was feeling a little insecure at the time, and was having relationship problems, and wanted to know whether I still liked him. I told him “of course I like you!” He replied “You’re just saying that because you’re a Christian and you have to like people, that doesn’t count.”

As much as our beliefs define who we are, they also define what other people see of God. If we twist the rules to our benefit, break the speed limit, swear, download things we shouldn’t, laugh at people behind their backs, get drunk, pull a sickie so we can watch the football, people will judge us. More importantly than that, they’ll judge all Christians by your actions. As individuals, each of us has a responsibility for the reputation of the Church.

When Jesus said that “what comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’” I think there are two reasons why that is the case. Firstly, and most obviously, it is to do with our own spiritual health. Clearly, if we allow our minds to dwell on things we know are wrong, if we allow our sinful minds to follow through into sinful actions, then that’s not going to bode well for our relationship with God. God wants to have an amazing friendship with each of us, and ultimately wants everyone to come to faith in him and have everlasting life, but that can only happen if we let God fill our lives – every second of it. Every time we give in to our selfish desires we push God away, and make it harder for us to come back to God and say sorry.

But there is also the public side of it, where our actions influence other people too. The Pharisees had their rules and regulations, which made it pretty much impossible for ‘normal’ people to meet with God in a meaningful way. It was all about traditions, following instructions, obeying various commandments without knowing why. Intentionally or otherwise, the Pharisees had put up a barrier between God and his people. For the world to come to God, Jesus had to break down those barriers – most visually when he died on the cross and the curtain in the temple was torn in two.

So, let’s take a careful look at our own actions, both private and public. Have we put up barriers for our friends by sending out mixed messages? Have we contributed to a warped impression of what Christians believe? Or do we need to meet up with our friends again to apologise to them and set the record straight…

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Matthew has long had a strong involvement with Christian websites. He was a keen contributor to the original Crossring site, and subsequently launched his own website, Focus On Faith. Focus On Faith was incorporated into Crossring in September 2009, and Matthew took on the role of lead writer for the site. Matthew works as a web designer, and lives in the West Country with his wife, Ellie.

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