Wash No More
I'm reading Mark 7 tonight while this week I've been preparing to preach on the Miracle of Water to Wine in John 2. So I might have to make a slight divergence to cover some depth to this passage below:
Mark 7:1–3 (ESV) Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,
Jesus and his disciples didn't need to wash their hands ceremonially any longer. In the miracle at Cana in John 2 Jesus had the servants fill 6 waters jars used for such washing to the brim and THOSE jars carried the water turned to wine.
John's Gospel covers the first year of Jesus' ministry while the Synoptics cover the last two. So I can imagine the disciples snickering a little when the Pharisees and scribes got upset about them no longer washing from those jars by the time Mark 7 comes around. I mean, after all, those jars reminded them only of one thing: The old system is gone and the NEW in Christ has come!
You can't tell me it wasn't a blast to follow Jesus.
It's time to move on in life. When you are free from dead tradition, life opens up. I think about the things we even try to use to make us better Christians. Programs and accountability partners and trying to resist sin when freedom, true freedom is only available and only complete in Christ! Paul says:
Colossians 2:20–23 (ESV) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Mark 7:1–3 (ESV) Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,
Jesus and his disciples didn't need to wash their hands ceremonially any longer. In the miracle at Cana in John 2 Jesus had the servants fill 6 waters jars used for such washing to the brim and THOSE jars carried the water turned to wine.
John's Gospel covers the first year of Jesus' ministry while the Synoptics cover the last two. So I can imagine the disciples snickering a little when the Pharisees and scribes got upset about them no longer washing from those jars by the time Mark 7 comes around. I mean, after all, those jars reminded them only of one thing: The old system is gone and the NEW in Christ has come!
You can't tell me it wasn't a blast to follow Jesus.
It's time to move on in life. When you are free from dead tradition, life opens up. I think about the things we even try to use to make us better Christians. Programs and accountability partners and trying to resist sin when freedom, true freedom is only available and only complete in Christ! Paul says:
Colossians 2:20–23 (ESV) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Only Christ sets us free! Read that again. You can do good for three years and still not be a changed person set free by the power of Christ. The water was TRANSFORMED to wine. It didn't make there on it's own. These disciples were transformed by Christ and transformed the world.
Are you still a work in progress? Yes. But Christ is the power and promise of a finished product one day.
PRAYER:
Father, thank you for setting me free in so many things. I pray for continued deliverance and salvation in Christ upon your church, all those who read this, and myself as well.
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