"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."
I cannot read these words without thinking about a young woman in Argentina. But, before I talk about her, just let me set the tone. The Pastor/President of the The Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida Church in Argentina was driving a colleague and I to a section of Buenos Aires which was quite poor. They had a school in the area that was educating the children of some of these poor families, all in the hopes of raising the potential aspirations of those youth who suffered under such poverty.
As we drove, I looked out the window at the poor conditions of the small houses and the general lack of trash disposal in the area. There was a small garage in which an old man pounded on an old vehicle, trying to eek out a living in an area with few vehicles. I saw a line of people at the bank, hoping to get some of their own money out, hoping that there was enough cash in the bank for them all. I saw women working the corners of the streets and thought to myself that we had really hit the low of the low in the city.
We toured the school. It was great. The kids were happy and were generally excited to meet with us and practice their English skills. They worshiped God with enthusiasm in chapel and played with just as much enthusiasm on playground, a special vision of joy in their dilapidated part of the city.
At one point, while talking to the pastor who was responsible for the school and the local church, I mentioned how these kids walked to their nice school, past all of the prostitutes, crime, and general “iffyness” of the area. He looked at me with unexpected eyes of disappointment and said, “You realize that those terrible prostitutes littering the streets are probably their mothers.”
He pointed to a smiling child who was playing nearby outside.
“Her mother is educated. Her mother cannot find a job around here. Her mother works those horrible streets so that that precious, beautiful little girl can get a good education and might be able to get out of here. Do not throw stones before you even know what you are talking about. Her mother suffers for her.”
Then, he quoted Jesus, “There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." He stared at me and I knew exactly whose “things that come out” he was referring to.
The Pharisees and I could have gone and had a party together. For, they too pointed to others, chastising what others did without understanding or compassion. For the Pharisees of today's story, it was the disciples' failure to ritually wash their hands before eating.
This was not an issue of cleanliness before eating…it was not the inability of the disciples to grasp on to what we try to teach 4 year olds, “Wash your hands before you eat, you could get sick.”
Rather, it was a failure of the disciples to ritually wash their hands in order to be spiritually pure before touching the food from the markets and putting it in their mouths.
“Why don’t the disciples do what we all know is the right thing to do…the very thing that we have been doing for centuries?” the Pharisees ask.
There are lots of things that we do that are the "correct" things to do. We talk off our hats when we enter buildings. We shake hands when greeting. We look each other in the eye when we talk. There are a boat load of “correct” things that we do that we do every day that we do not even think about.
However, if someone were to fail in following one of these unwritten rules, we most certainly would think about it, and we would probably mention it; just like I mentioned those female street workers with dismay.
“What exactly is her mother doing wrong?” the pastor asked.
Well, my mind raced to the end of the reading for today. In my mind I quickly listed off a few of those internal sins that express themselves in terrible outer ways. “Fornication”…sleeping around…and “licentiousness”…unbridled lust…came to mind.
As if reading my mind, the pastor looked me in the eye and said, “She does what she does out of love for her child. She sacrifices her body and suffers the sins of others in order to save her child. This is what Christ did. I dare you to tell me any different.”
Again, quoting Jesus, “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."
I could not answer. The pastor had put me in my place in the same way that Jesus had those religious leaders in their place all those centuries ago.
As you search the gospels, you will see over and over again that Jesus loves those who we consider to be sinners, but has the strongest condemnation for those of us who think that we are righteous. For Jesus a sin that seems to be worse than the sins of the heart that he lists (fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly) appears to be the sin of condemning others. Contempt, for Jesus, appears to be one of the most corrosive conditions that can stem from the inside and spread its evil to the outside.
“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."
As we traveled back into the middle of the city, I thought about what I would do if I were in these women’s situation? What would I do for the sake of saving my child? What sacrifice would I make for the sake of their future? What horrors would I endure for the sake of love? Would I walk the streets? Would I suffer shame and derision from the righteous? Would I go to the cross for the love of another?
Jesus did. He suffered shame and derision. He suffered the fate of a criminal. He suffered the violation of his body on the cross. He did it all for the sake of love, because it was love that was in his heart. It was love that came from the inside and expressed itself on the outside. It was love that overcame the world of condemnation and hate. It was a heart of love that saved us all.
My heart was changed.
Afterward, I was less willing to condemn. I was less willing to assume sin. I was less willing to just look at the outside, but rather sought to search the inside.
I am not great at it. I still judge. I still fail. But, I pray that the love of Christ might, more and more, pour from my inside, rather than contempt for others.
I pray that the love that holds me fast forever might take a firm hold within me.
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