The Heart That Needs More Than Soap
Read: Matthew 15:10–20
Turning from the Pharisees, Jesus summons the crowd with a statement that would have astonished any first-century Jew: what defiles a person is not what enters the mouth, but what proceeds from it. The real contamination, He explains, springs from the heart, and Scripture means by that the very command centre of a person, the seat of thought, desire, and will. He then walks deliberately through the Ten Commandments, showing that each is broken from within.
Here the illustration of Western Australia’s rabbit-proof fence proves instructive. Even the most impressive barrier (1000’s of kms) designed to keep out contamination, cannot help when the problem is already on the inside. Religion at its worst is a fresh coat of paint over a house whose frame the termites have already hollowed out.
Yet the passage does not leave us in despair. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised to sprinkle clean water on His people and replace their stony hearts with hearts of flesh. The cleansing we need is not something we perform on ourselves but something God does within us, from the inside out. This became possible and real when, as Pilate washed his hands before the crowd and remained guilty, the innocent Christ went to the cross so that guilty hearts might be made clean.
Pray: Father, wash me within and give me a new heart.
▶ Watch the full sermon: Clean Hands, Pure Heart