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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I happened to be in my car yesterday, when Senator Joe Lieberman’s speech at Senator John McCain’s Memorial Service came on the radio. I heard Senator Lieberman, who is a practicing Jew, tell how Senator McCain, a Christian, accommodated Senator Lieberman’s unusual religious practices, such as on the Sabbath having to walk and limiting the distance, and riding elevators in Israeli hotels that were preprogrammed to stop at every floor. Senator Lieberman told how Senator McCain even joked that he was converting to Judaism, not because of any particular liking for the religion, but, since he had to go along with all of Senator Lieberman’s “religious nonsense” for so many years, then he might as well “get the benefits” (Speech). In his speech, Senator Lieberman did not mention Jewish dietary accommodations; perhaps in their meals together Senator Lieberman was able to keep Kosher, while Senator McCain ate what he want. For, Christians understand that, as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus declared all foods clean. And, as we consider that Gospel Reading this morning, we realize that Jesus also declares all believers clean.
Jesus’s declaring all foods clean that we heard today comes after Jesus’s refuting and criticizing the Jewish leaders for placing their tradition over the Word of God that we heard last Sunday. Not only was the Jewish leaders’ tradition of ceremonially washing hands before eating not necessary, but also, as Jesus goes on to tell the crowd and to explain further for His disciples, somewhat shockingly, they no longer were to regard certain foods—like the pork and lobster pictured on today’s bulletin cover—as unclean.
Jesus’s declaring all foods clean in today’s Gospel Reading is somewhat like God’s expanding the permissible foods after the flood (Genesis 9:3; Marcus, ad loc Mark 7:17-19, p.457). But, even the disciples apparently did not understand what Jesus meant! Indeed, the New Testament Church itself took a while to appreciate Jesus’s declaration about all foods’ being clean, with a special revelation given to St. Peter (Acts 10:9-16), St. Paul’s having to call St. Peter out (Galatians 2:11-21), the first Apostolic Council’s making a decision about the matter and sending it to believers (Acts 15:19-31), and St. Paul’s writing to the Romans that the strong should yield to the weak in such matters (Romans 14:13‑23). The Holy Spirit even inspired the evangelist St. Mark to explain Jesus’s meaning in the midst of His words in the Gospel Reading!
Like Jesus’s disciples and the New Testament Church, we are told by our Lord to hear Him and understand, but we also may be slow to understand or without any understanding. Now, probably none of us are trying to keep Kosher, though we may limit our diet due to allergies or other health concerns. But, we may try to do with God’s moral law what Jesus did with His ceremonial law: namely, relax it or altogether do away with it. Jesus’s declaring all foods clean is no precedent for our declaring God’s moral law to be out‑moded or out‑of‑date, and there is no other Scripture commanding us to do so, but there is Scripture to the contrary, as we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Deuteronomy 4:12-, 6-9). The moral law still applies! As we heard in the Gospel Reading, Jesus lists a catalog of evil thoughts that flow from our hearts—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness—and together those sins arguably touch on all that God commands us in regards both to our loving our neighbor as ourselves and to our loving God with all our heart. Quite simply we fail in both of those regards. We are sinful by nature, and our sinful nature leads us to commit countless actual sins not only of evil thoughts but also of evil words and evil deeds. Those things come out of us, and they defile us—that is, they make us unholy and so unfit for contact with our holy God, both now and for eternity.
But, as Jesus declared all food clean, so He also declares all believers clean. As He called and enabled the disciples to understand, so He calls and enables us to repent. When we repent, then God forgives us our sin for Jesus’s sake, and thereby we are clean.
Jesus’s only declaring all foods clean ultimately would help us very little. However, Jesus not only declared all foods clean, providing more food for our physical needs, but Jesus also declares all believers clean, providing for our spiritual needs. To be sure, as true God in human flesh, Jesus can speak God’s law and apply it as He wants. Yet, out of His great love for us, Jesus kept all of God’s law for us, and Jesus died on the cross to make up for our failing to keep even God’s moral law. As we turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake, God gives us Christ’s righteousness. He declares us clean, and so we are clean. For God’s Word does what it says, as it did at Creation, even if, in the case of our being declared clean, the immediate result is a little less spectacular.
All it took for all foods to be made clean was Jesus’s declaring them clean, and likewise all it takes for all believers to be made clean is Jesus’s declaring us clean. As His Word is read and preached, it does what He says. As His Word is connected with water in Holy Baptism, it does what He says. Especially in Holy Baptism, God sprinkles clean water on us and thereby cleanses us, giving us new hearts and new spirits (Ezekiel 36:25-26). Not only Charles, who was baptized this morning, but each one of us who has ever been baptized has had God at the Baptismal Font work forgiveness of sins, rescue us from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation to us as we believe His Word and its promises. As His Word is connected with the rite of individual Holy Absolution, it does what He says, forgiving our sins and so returning us to our baptismal grace and admitting us to the Sacrament of the Altar. There, as His Word is connected with bread and wine, it does what He says: bread is the Body of Christ given for you, and wine is the Blood of Christ shed for you. Far better than foods like pork and lobster, Christ’s Body and Blood give us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. (Next week we will hear more about Jesus’s so feeding not only Jews but also Gentiles [Mark 7:24-30; confer Mark 8:1-10; Marcus, ad loc Mark 7:17-19, p.458]).
As God’s Word so declares and makes us clean, we are also strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, clothed in the whole armor of God that we heard about in today’s Epistle Reading (Ephesians 6:10-20). Unless we reject Him, God makes us able to stand firm in the Christian faith until He summons us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. When I saw Leroy Thomas last Sunday afternoon, some twelve hours before God summoned his soul to heaven, I reminded him of the promises God made to him in his baptism, which baptism, as His Confirmation verse said well (Galatians 3:27-29), made him one with Christ Jesus and so Abraham’s offspring and an heir according to God’s Gospel’s promises. Leroy seemed to be awake and coherent enough in those few moments to understand and respond, and we know that now he knows fully, even as he is fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).
In his speech at Senator John McCain’s Memorial Service, in addition to joking about Senator McCain’s becoming Jewish, Senator Lieberman also praised Senator McCain’s forgiveness, exemplified, he said, by his having forgiven the country of Vietnam for what it had done to him during his five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war there. Yet not even Senator McCain’s forgiveness, much less his observing Jewish religious practices, would “get” him the “benefits” of forgiveness from God and so eternal life. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus points to the evil things that we at least think, if not also say and do. The evil things that come out of our hearts defile us, but, as we have realized in considering today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus not only declares all food clean but also all believers clean. Thanks be to God! By His declaration we are clean, holy, and able to be in fellowship with Him, both now and for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +