Wisdom Purifies Our Minds And Hearts

1 Kings 10:1-10
Mark 7:14-23

As at the time of Jesus, Jewish tradition held that there are clean and unclean foods and also if a person did not wash their hands before eating, then what ever they touched and then ate would defile their soul. Earlier on, some scribes and pharisees that had come from all the way from Jerusalem then “gathered around” Jesus to confront Him. They confronted Jesus about the way his disciples are eating without washing their hands in the correct tradition.

This way of washing hands before eating was very specific even though this could not be found specifically in the Torah- it was simply an extra biblical tradition that was developed. It is on this ground that Jesus made it clear to the people today that, It was not about how you washed your hand or what you ate that would defile you, it was about what was in your heart, mind and soul and what came out of your mouth.Your soul cannot be ruined by the food you eat. That belief was not from God, that belief came from man (Mark 7:2-5.) and evil thoughts we have from within.

The wickedness and immorality we have comes from within. The theft, murder, deceitfulness and adultery that man commits comes from within. All things wicked that man expresses outwardly, starts inwardly. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart itself.

The question is heart right now? Are there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of and to place them before God Almighty? Is your heart with Jesus or is Jesus in your heart? Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it.

You may be a teacher, a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, civil servant, entrepreneur and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion.

Nowhere is he or she safe who thinks so. Pride may enter a poor man’s heart; avarice may reign in a cottager’s bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode.

Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil.
How exposed we are! How shall we be secured? Where lies our hope of glory and the joy of salvation? To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only God is able to preserve us in such a world of evils.

Our Christian hope therefore is based on faith and relationship with God. He will surely fulfill what He said He will do. From this, our actions and our rituals flow. From this, flows our non-judgemental attitude towards others. Into this, happiness comes from God and flows from us to others.

Fr Joseph Osho