Today found me in Leviticus 15-16, Mark 7 and Psalm 40 — strange combination on the surface.
Genital discharge, menstrual periods, intercourse (I’m not making this up) and putting them all together (such as monkeying around while the woman is having her period) were the topics of discussion in Leviticus. Quite a change from the previous chapters! But, in the midst of all this “wild” stuff, the concept of the scapegoat appears for the first time in history. Have I gotten your attention? Go read the section!
Flipping to Mark 7, I came across the Jesus Lord really getting bent out of shape over traditions. Now, even Jesus notes that traditions aren’t evil or wrong, in and of themselves. They can even be beneficial at helping you make a connection with past spiritual events and thus enhance your current walk and future battles. As the wise sage notes, “he who does not study history is bound to repeat it.” The slant he takes at this juncture, however, is in an oppposite direction.
He pulls a passage out of Isaiah and states: “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads.” [SIDENOTE: if you do not own a copy of The Message translation, get one! It can radically change the way you’ve always read and understood what the Word is saying!]
Do you get the gist of what he’s saying? He slams the substitution of tradition over obedience, service and worship. Not for the simple sake of slamming it. It can totally substitute “ditching God’s command” for what is comfortable. He really gets nasty later in the chapter when his disciples mention that they didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Jesus asks: “Are you being willfully stupid?” He makes the point that what you eat has no bearing whatsoever on who you are before him. It’s what’s in your head or your heart that screws you up. The older 1994 NLT version uses the term “thought-life” to describe what defiles a person, as opposed to “it is what comes from inside that defiles you.” I really like “thought-life;” it’s not a one time affair, it’s what is continually rolling around in there that defines who you are — it’s your life, not just some random thoughts.
Interesting stuff, yes, but you’ve got to ask the question: “so?”
Which brings us to Part 2 . . .