Evil -and Good - from Within: A Sermon for Proper 17

Given that we are living in the midst of a highly contagious virus, most of us would agree with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel lesson. Regardless of who you are, where you live, or what your religion is, who disagrees – in principle at least- with washing your hands prior to eating? And who doesn’t think it is a good idea to eat from clean dishes? We may not all agree on the efficacy of masks or vaccinations, but I have yet to see an anti-hand or anti-dish washing movement emerge. But I continue to be surprised these days, so who knows, maybe even handwashing will become a divisive issue in our time like it was during Jesus’ ministry.

Today’s epistle and gospel lessons both address the tension and conflict between clean and unclean, pure and impure, or in religious terminology, sacred and profane. And both James and Mark use the verb defile to describe the desecration of something sacred. So, our lessons today are addressing more than good hygeine. They are addressing religious purity.

In Mark’s gospel lesson, “the Pharisees noticed that some of [Jesus’] disciples were eating with defiled hands.” So, they confronted Jesus about this clear violation of the Mosaic law, asking him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” Of course, we read this passage knowing that the Pharisees – at least the ones we read about in the gospels - were characterized as legalistic, self-righteous, religious zealots. So even though the idea of washing your hands before you eat is something that few people disagree with, we still are put off by their antagonistic, confrontational, self-righteous approach. I wonder if the pro-vaccination and pro-mask wearing movements – which I support given the sharp rise in the number of cases where we live – would have been better received if they hadn’t been delivered with such an heir of self-righteousness. Well-intentioned ideas communicated antagonistically rarely succeed.

As usual, Jesus responds to the Pharisees by going straight to the heart of the matter. In his response, Jesus radically reframes or even redefines the source of what is clean or unclean. Jesus is moving the conversation about who or what is pure or impure to beneath the surface when he says, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Jesus is saying that no matter how clean we are on the outside – no matter how well we follow our religious purity codes or commonsense sanitary practices – no matter how pious, religious, well-mannered, well-put together, or well-intentioned that we appear to be, evil still persists from within. And that can be a difficult truth for many of us to come to grips with – especially those of us who consider ourselves to be “good” people.

What Jesus is getting at is that our moral and ethical work is to be done on the inside, because it is on the inside where evil dwells. He wants us to go to the source of the problem, not the surface, as the Pharisees seem to want to do. Those of us who have engaged in intentional, inner work through spiritual direction, therapy, and contemplative prayer know that it is incredibly challenging, but also deeply fruitful work.

The introductory paragraph of James’ epistle addresses the same sort of issue, albeit to a different audience and a different situation. But the principle remains the same.

Notice that James begins with acknowledging that all things that are good originate from God, not ourselves. This is a radical way to think about both outreach and stewardship. The gifts we give are not from us, but from above. James is offering a healthy check to our sense of self-righteousness when we begin to feel good about and take credit for our own acts of kindness and generosity.

But we must be careful about lapsing into hopeless despair, wondering “what’s the point?” if all that comes from within us is evil. James addresses this question by reminding us that God’s original intent and purpose for creation was goodness, holiness, and righteousness. And in Jesus Christ, God has given us the means for returning to that state of goodness – the means for redemption for all of God’s creatures and creation. In James’ words, God “gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” God’s intention for us was and is for us to be the good, healthy fruit of his creation. 

Of course, as human beings who, since the fall of Adam and Eve, reside East of Eden, we have made a mess of things. If you are not a believer of the doctrine of Original Sin, you must not be watching the news these days. James’ community was dealing with the same sort of thing, as he implored them to “rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”

But the good news is that James offers us a way to go about living the Christian life. He asserts that the living Word that God has implanted within us is something that we do not passively receive, but rather, a gift that we actively respond to. In James’ words, we are to “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” And then James goes a step further by giving a clear, specific example of what being a “doer of the word” by imploring us to “care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

But we must be careful not to misinterpret James. Caring for orphans and widows is indeed an example of being a “doer of the word.” But when we do these sorts of things, we must not fall into the trap of feeling proud of ourselves or self-righteous. And we must not fall into the trap of believing that this sort of action will save our souls, or anybody else’s for that matter. We must remember that James equates the salvation of our souls with God’s implanted word, which we are to “welcome with meekness.” And not only are we to welcome and receive God’s word with meekness and humility, but we are also to embody God’s word with our actions with that same sort of meekness and humility. That is the sort of pure and undefiled first fruits of creation that God intended for us to be.

Both Jesus and James warn us about the sin of pride, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. In the gospels, the Pharisees model for us this sort of behavior, and Jesus was always quick to call them out and offer a corrective. And James does the same with his admonition against defiled, impure religion. In both cases, Jesus and James invite us to examine and correct what is within us first. Our anger, pride, self-righteousness, hypocrisy - and all else that is evil – come from within. But so does all that is good, holy, and righteous. Through our baptisms, God’s Word has been implanted within us. We are not good; but God is good; and God wills it to be so for us, ever since God created us. And God’s saving Word, living within us, can be embodied in how we live our lives, as the first fruits of God’s creation. Let us seek to be bearers of this fruit with meekness, humility, and gratitude.