Jim:
Mark 7:1-23
The gospel lesson for today really set the tone in helping me to appreciate the other two readings. Verses 21-23 say, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and they defile a person.” In other words, your intentions or the orientation of your living are what determine your cleanliness before God, not the ritualized practices of religion. Some Pharisees felt that as long as they followed the letter of the law they would be exempt from the spirit of the law. Jesus said that what a person does with his or her life is what determines cleanliness.
2 Samuel 4:1-12
So here is an example of what Jesus was saying in Mark. Rechab and Baanah murdered Saul’s son Ishbaal as he lay on his couch and brought the head to David expecting a reward. But David renounced their actions. If he had killed an Amalakite (2 Samuel 1:15f) for assisting Saul to die (a not entirely dishonorable thing to do), “How much more then,” said David, “when wicked men have killed a righteous man on his bed in his own house!” The ends did not justify the means for David. The motivation that had driven Rechab and Baanah was impure and as a result their actions were tainted. The two had oriented their lives toward base gain and not toward righteousness and justice.
Acts 16:25-40
A proper orientation is described in the Acts passage. When the jailer asked, “Sirs, what much I do to be saved?”, (v. 30) Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (v. 31) The proper orientation for our living is toward God’s will, best demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. “Believe on” Jesus, live as Jesus lived, do what Jesus did. Imitating Jesus leads to a life of cleanliness and to salvation while impure motives and their actions do not.
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