The Handwashing Fiasco: Jesus Calls Out Religious Hypocrisy

By Pastor Jonathan Brem, Youth and Young Adult Pastor, Cornerstone Church

In Mark Chapter 7, we read about an intense confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over the issue of handwashing. This story provides powerful lessons for Christ-followers today about avoiding religious hypocrisy and pursuing wholehearted devotion to God.

By looking deeper into this story, we uncover profound insights and invaluable lessons that resonate with believers today, reminding us of the significance of authenticity and sincerity in our faith journey.

The Pharisees' Accusation

The Pharisees were the religious rule-keepers of Jesus' day. They noticed that some of Jesus' disciples were eating without first washing their hands according to Jewish ceremonial tradition. So they arrogantly confront Jesus:

"Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony." (Mark 7:5)

The Pharisees' Manmade Rules and Rituals

The Pharisees prided themselves in their manmade rules and rituals. In their minds, their traditions were the greatest thing ever.

During a pandemic, has anyone ever heard the term "hygiene theater?" This was going above and beyond with visible sanitation practices to make people feel safe even if it doesn't effectively stop viral spread.

Similarly, the Pharisees multiplied religious rules to make a show of their own purity and righteousness - all while their hearts remained unchanged. As Jesus will soon point out, this is the height of hypocrisy.

Jesus' Scathing Response

Jesus does not mince words in his reply. He essentially calls the Pharisees two-faced frauds:

"You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. For he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce.'" (Mark 7:6-7)

Outward Appearance, No Inward Reality

The Pharisees claimed to honor God, but it was all outward appearance with no inward reality. They looked righteous on the outside through manmade rituals like ceremonial handwashing, but God still saw the greed and pride that filled their hearts.

Jesus continues his verbal takedown:

"You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition...you let people disregard their needy parents, and so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition." (Mark 7:9,13)

Elevating Rules Above God's Word

The Pharisees manipulated loopholes to avoid obeying clear commands like honoring parents in need. For instance, they allowed people to declare their money "Corban" - dedicated to God in a vow that couldn't be broken even to help the family. They elevated their own legalistic rules above the word of God.

What is your Corban?

A corban is what you have vowed to the Lord while still holding back in practice.

We do the same thing today whenever we make promises to God that we don't currently intend to fulfill. For instance, we often say:

God, I promise you can have my resources, but let me get a promotion first...God, I promise you'll have my time, but I gotta wait till the softball season is over..."

But Jesus says if we genuinely trust God with what we have now - whether money, time, or purity - he will bless our obedience and giving spirit with even more resources for his glory.

It’s A Matter of the Heart

Outward religious rituals can’t cleanse a filthy heart.

Going Deeper: It's About the Heart

After this confrontation, Jesus teaches that outward religious rituals can never cleanse a filthy heart:

"What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For from within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder..." (Mark 7:20-21)

The Pharisees' Deepest Need

The Pharisees were scrupulous rule-keepers externally but unrepentant lawbreakers internally. They needed inner heart transformation, not more religious hoop-jumping.

In the same passage, Jesus clarifies an important distinction:

"Don’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart." (Mark 7:18-19)

While physical impurities like germs can and should be cleansed through handwashing, moral impurities like greed come from within the heart. Only the cleansing blood of Jesus applied by faith can wash our hearts white as snow.

Pursuing An Intimate Relationship with Christ

The phrase "It breaks God’s heart when I sin because he loves me." This means that we don't want to try endlessly to redeem ourselves through good behavior. He wants us to fall passionately in love with Jesus. When we pursue an intimate relationship with Christ first and foremost, good works will naturally follow.

Examining Our Hearts

So let's examine our hearts. Are we majoring in outward appearance while harboring inward corruption? God sees straight through to the heart. Our deepest need is not for stricter rules but for more of Jesus' amazing grace transforming us from within. What's in your heart today?

Returning to Our First Love

Jesus emphasized the following message in Luke 6:45:

"A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what's in your heart."

Some theologians believe we are in the Laodicean age - the age of being lukewarm in our faith. Our passion for Jesus has become "normal" rather than on fire.

We need to fall in love with Jesus again - to go back to that first love when everything we did was encapsulated by the excitement of the salvation we first experienced.

Be Intentional

We Must Make An Intimate Connection With Christ.

Being Intentional

We've got to be intentional to put Jesus back as our top priority. To pursue a relationship with him like we would a romantic partner. When we make an intimate connection with Christ our focus, everything else will organically fall into place.

Ask yourself that basic but profound question: What's in my heart? Maybe you've never truly experienced a relationship with Jesus. Or maybe you once did but have drifted. Either way, Jesus is waiting with open arms - ready to wash our hearts clean and welcome us home.