With the spring semester over, I have more control over my schedule. Up around seven thirty with a stimulating breakfast of oatmeal. I’ve been chowing on the instant lately, because it’s faster. Out to the office by eight thirty or so, check email and facebook (of course) and handle any issues that require attention. The actual academic workday kicks off with Hebrew and then Greek. I’m reading 1 Samuel in the Old Testament and Mark in the New. Something in Mark caught my attention the other day: Mark 7:14-23. I was drawn to the wordplay in the original language between the prepositions ‘out’ and ‘in.’
Jesus gathered a crowd and dropped some wisdom on them. The things that you eat do not defile you. Um, wait a minute. The Jewish law pretty specifically lists the allowable and forbidden food items. Noshing on a ham sandwich? Nope! Pork is forbidden (Deut. 14:8). So what’s the point? While Mark does indicate that this changes the dietary laws, the more important point is the basic idea of defilement. Things that become poop are not the problem. Defiling actions from a wicked heart are.
When modern people think about evil, they often think of wickedness as a force outside them and Christians are not an exception. The ‘devil made me do it’ is a commonplace, something we believe and never really challenge. External evil is a minor problem compared to the evil within. Mark 7:21 says ‘from within, out of the evil hearts of men the evil thoughts come out’ (my translation). Christians will do well to rely on God for the restraint of evil desire.
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