““I remember a lot of stuff, but that doesn’t mean any of it is useful. Point is: No history teacher I’ve ever had teaches history from that perspective. They never say, ‘Okay, here’s what happened during Grover Cleveland’s presidency and here’s what we can learn from it and apply to our lives today so we don’t make the same mistakes he did.’ Doesn’t happen. Instead they end up feeding you facts—dates and names—instead of application. The very reason they use to justify their jobs—using the past as examples and warnings for the present—is the very thing they almost universally fail to do.””
from “Checkmate: The Bowers Files” by Steven James
It’s just like that with the Bible and church isn’t it?
Of course, not every church is like that.
But for the ones that are – the result is the same isn’t it?
The very reason they use to justify their jobs—using the past as examples and warnings for the present—is the very thing they almost universally fail to do.””
It is written
Jesus said “it is written” many times.
Mk 7:6 … it is written:
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Mk 7:7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Jesus didn’t stop there. He could have, He’d taught the “history”.
Again, He could have stopped. Just given the history lesson.
But then the people could have said, “this doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
Like today – doesn’t have anything to do with us, but we’ve got to pass this test, so we’ll memorize it. And not learn anything from it. Not realizing that it does really apply to us, that there was a lesson to be learned, and since all we did was memorize it, we didn’t learn the lesson for ourselves, just like the people didn’t learn it earlier..
Did you notice what I did there? I took the lesson from the past – “this doesn’t have anything to do with us”. Then, I played that forward to today – where we’d say the same thing. Then I put forward the consequences of not actually learning the lesson. It’s an old lesson – at the highest level – those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. That kind of “knowing” is more than just memorizing – it’s knowing the context from history – it’s knowing the context today – and it’s knowing how to apply the lessons from the past to today’s present world.
But Jesus didn’t want just memorization. He wanted the people to understand what He was telling them. Just as He wants us to see how the lessons are applied to us today.
Jesus wants us to learn what the people in His time failed to learn.
Jesus didn’t want lots of “followers” who would say things like “I remember a lot of stuff, but …“
And so – He would explain the significance of what was written.
Here’s the whole lesson, in context –
Clean and Unclean
7:1-23 pp — Mt 15:1-20
Mk 7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. )
Mk 7:5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
Mk 7:6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Mk 7:7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Mk 7:9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
So – Jesus made His point to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
However – He didn’t stop there either.
Remember earlier I said Jesus wants us to understand the lesson. Well, even in His own time, Jesus wasn’t satisfied with just correcting the Jewish leaders. Yes, they needed to learn the lesson. But so did the people the Jewish leaders were supposed to be leading. Since the leaders weren’t properly leading the people – Jesus also went straight to the people –
Mk 7:14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.15Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’’”
Even after that, Jesus still wasn’t satisfied.
When His new crop of future leaders asked Jesus about what He had just said, He had some choice words for them as well –
Mk 7:17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?19For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)
Mk 7:20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’21For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ ”
Jesus went to great lengths to be sure His message got out. He addressed three groups of people to be sure all of them understood.
- The leaders of His time.
- The people of His time.
- The leaders of the next generation.
Furthermore, given the sequence of what He did, we have to expect that He wanted that same thing to keep happening. And He also knew full well that each generation would produce some leaders who wouldn’t lead in the right path. That some of the leaders would need to be corrected themselves. And that each generation would need to prepare the leaders for the next generations.
Mindless memorization would never accomplish this.
Having people say “I remember a lot of stuff, but …” is pointless.
In the world today, with the internet and e-books that are fully searchable, memorization is becoming less and less important, at least for it’s own sake. Anything can be looked up, even with a general idea of what it’s about.
But – knowing what something means – how to interpret it and apply it to the environment we live in – that’s what counts.
It’s much better today that we remember something –
we know what it meant when it was first said –
and we know how to apply it to our lives today.
It’s like the difference between information and wisdom.
We talk about information overload these days – too much information to retain all of it.
However, there’s a worse problem – lack of wisdom.
All the information in the world is useless if we don’t know how to apply it.
Solomon knew that thousands of years ago.
That’s why Proverbs starts off with these verses –
Proverbs
Prologue: Purpose and Theme
Pr 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
Pr 1:2 for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
Pr 1:3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
Pr 1:4 for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
Pr 1:5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
Pr 1:6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Solomon didn’t stop there with his words about wisdom
Not even close.
The next section headers from the NIV are –
Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom
Warning Against Enticement
Warning Against Rejecting Wisdom
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
Further Benefits of Wisdom
Wisdom Is Supreme
And then after writing about adultery, folly, adultery and adultery (yet again)
Wisdom’s Call
Invitations of Wisdom and of Folly
and then finally
Proverbs of Solomon
So – what do you remember?