The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

© 2024, Dr. Tamilio

This is it.  The last hurrah.  Labor Day weekend.  The summer is officially over.  Those of us who are here today didn’t go away for the weekend.  We’ll be going home to mow, and paint, and clean, and organize, and all those other things to get ready for the fall.  Stores are already for the fall.  The Halloween decorations are out.  Question: does anyone who buys Halloween candy now actually keep it for two months?  There are many of us who eat that last bite-size Snickers and say, “I can always buy more.  There’s plenty of time.”

Today’s Gospel lesson is certainly an interesting one.  Jesus is really talking about dietary laws.  If you know anything about Judaism, you know that there are certain foods that Orthodox Jews do not eat.  The term is kashrut.  It’s not just Jews.  The same is true for Muslims, Hindus, and people of other faith traditions.  I remember when I was little.  I wanted my Jewish friend Aaron to come over for dinner.  My mother said, “No, he can’t.  We’re having pork chops.”  I thought, “How does she know whether or not Aaron likes pork chops?”

In this passage Jesus is saying something quite profound in its simplicity: it isn’t what goes into the mouth that matters; it’s what comes out of the mouth that counts.  What goes into the mouth gets digested and ends up in the sewer.  However, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.  If we speak words of hate, slander, and other kinds of falsehood, that says a great deal about what’s on the inside — what’s inside our hearts.

We teach our kids, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”  I don’t know who came up with this bit of homespun philosophy, but it isn’t true.  Sure, what people say to us does not hurt — if they are strangers, maybe — but talk to people who grew up in homes where they were verbally abused.  When I was a kid, my parents had a camp in Maine.  There was a family that my parents became friends with who lived across the lake.  I remember that the father always spoke to his son in terrible ways.  He called him an idiot, stupid, a moron.  It hurt to hear him talk.  I wonder how that kid grew up…

Jesus said that there is nothing outside us that can defile us, but “it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.”  Then Jesus gives us a list of examples: “sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, [and] folly.”  That’s quite a list!  Every time I read this passage, I look at it as a sort of checklist.  “Well, I don’t do that — and I don’t do this.”  But then I pause and realize, “Well, I have been deceptive, envious, and prideful.”  In other words, I try to prioritize my sins.  I am not as bad as others, so I guess I’m okay.  By the way: if you rationalize your sins, you’re not okay.

This passage also makes me think of one of my heroes, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  One of the most memorable lines from his “I Have a Dream” speech (probably the best speech ever written) is, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  Amen.  Is that not a direct reflection of what Jesus is saying in this passage?  Our heart is a window into the content of our character.

We think of the heart as the seat of our emotions.  It is where our intentions come from.  The word kindhearted has all kinds of synonyms: considerate, gracious, altruistic, sympathetic, kind, and merciful, just to name a few.  Some of the synonyms for kindhearted also have the word heart in them: warmhearted, softhearted, and tenderhearted.  What is the opposite?  Coldhearted.  What are its synonyms?  Detached, hard, harsh, insensitive, unfriendly, and unkind.  The word heart is in there, too: heartless, stony-hearted, and heartless.

What’s interesting about this Gospel lesson is that Jesus is not teaching us anything otherworldly.  In other words, this isn’t a passage in which he describes the kingdom of heaven (at least not directly).  It isn’t a passage in which he explains what we need to do to be saved.  He isn’t talking about his return at the end of time or explaining what it takes to be a disciple.  This is an example of good, moral teaching.  You do not have to believe that Jesus is the Messiah to follow these instructions.  This is one of those one size fits all lessons.

However, it is important to remember, as William Barclay tells us, that “when it was first spoken…[this was] the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament.”[1]  Why?  According to Barclay, Jesus was “wiping out at one stroke the law for which Jews suffered and died.”[2]  Died?  Yes!  Barclay relays as story from the extracanonical text 4 Maccabees 7 about

a widow who had seven sons.  It was demanded that they not eat swine’s flesh.  They refused.  The first had his tongue cut out, the ends of his limbs cut off; and he was then roasted alive in a pan; the second had his hair and skin of his skull torn off; one by one they were tortured to death while their aged mother cheered looked on and cheered them on; they died rather than eat meat which to them was unclean.[3]

As horrific and bizarre as this passage reads, the point is that devout Jews would have been more than shaken-up by what Jesus said.

I believe his real point is that how we treat each other matters.  Our words can build up or they can destroy.  They can uplift or they can denigrate.  Our words can give people hope or they can tear them down.  Dr. Gary Yarbrough is the Director of Pastoral Care at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabama.  In an article on exactly this topic, Yarbrough writes, “Starting today, we can begin to make a difference in the lives of others: within our families, communities and even working environment.”[4]  It’s based on what we say.  He quotes Proverbs 16:24, which reads, “Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy to the body.”  They are also healthy to the mind.  They can change a person’s perspective.  I believe children will try harder at whatever they are doing if they are given positive reinforcement (as my wife calls it) instead of being cutdown with criticism.  There is certainly a place for criticism, but not when it is simply meant to inflict pain.

Try it sometime.  Let’s engage in a little social experiment.  This week, say something kind to someone every day.  It can be someone you know, but it might be better if you offer those words to a complete stranger: the person who holds open the door for you, the teenager or retiree who bags your groceries, the receptionist at the doctor’s office — you know, the person who always hears your complaints.  “I was supposed to see the doctor twenty minutes ago!  What’s the hold up?”

Try it.  Offer a smile and a kind word.  You’d be amazed at the difference it might make in someone’s life.  After all, that age-old expression still rings true: it is what’s on the inside that counts the most.  Amen.

[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, rev. ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 172.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Gary Yarbrough, “The Power of Words: Making a Difference,” from Brookwood Baptist Health (online).