Jesus Calls Us To Clean Up Our Act
August 9, 2005 – 11:26 am | by Duncan Macleod
What Really Makes People Unclean
Jesus called the crowd together and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. The food that you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”
Peter replied, “What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?”
Jesus then said: Don’t any of you know what I am talking about by now? Don’t you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God.
Matthew 15: 10-20 (Contemporary English Version)
Have you ever had someone tell you to wash your mouth out with soap? Or have you told someone else to do it? Or have you been told to clean up your act? Here Jesus tells his followers to clean up their attitudes, the values that shape their words and actions. He helps them acknowledge that each of them has a messy thought life. As pure as they might appear on the outside, they struggle with mixed motives when they relate to other people.
So if Jesus wants us to address our inner motivation, where do we start?
In recovery circles, addicts on the mend are helped to recognise ’stinking thinking’ - negative or twisted thought patterns that lead to further abuse. It’s not just about what we feel tempted to do to others. Stinky thinking can include being dishonest with ourselves, telling ourselves that we cannot achieve anything, writing ourselves off. Recovery can only happen when we recognise stinky thinking for what it is. And that usually means being honest enough with a friend to allow honest feedback in turn.
And then there’s the development of clean values for living in a messy world. Instead of merely conforming to the environment we’re in, we’re called to identify the principles and thought patterns that lead to life-giving behaviour. As parents, as children, as teachers and leaders, we’re all given the challenge of seeing the world with the character of God, seeing people with attitudes that are loving, content, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.
One Response to “Jesus Calls Us To Clean Up Our Act”
By t.a.h. on Aug 10, 2005 | Reply
good thoughts,
I’ve been reading The Complex Christ by Kester Brewin, in which he explores “dirt” and the church.
One thing he speaks of is the need for people to go to psycotherapists and the such to explore our “dirt.” Something that I’ve ben thinking a bit about lately.
He also explores the place of dirt in the church, asking if the church has become a clean space again and exploring the need for us to become boundry breakers again, breaking the boundry between what is dirty and what is seen as clean.
and here’s a quote that i partucularly liked:
“if christ’s power lies in being able to cleanse, then a church where no dirt is allowed is powerless.”