The Pharisees and the scribes asked [Jesus], “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Mark 7:5

I am sure that we have all been told to wash our hands before coming to dinner. Maybe we were even taught to sing “Happy Birthday” while washing our hands, to make sure that we washed them thoroughly. Washing our hands before eating is obviously a good idea. So why does it lead to this argument between Jesus and the Pharisees in Mark 7?

The Pharisees have come a long way to investigate this itinerant preacher and miracle-worker. They wanted to know what made him popular, and wanted to make sure that his teaching was in line with their understanding of Scripture. 

And one of the first things they noticed was that his disciples were not washing their hands thoroughly before eating. They were not “observing the tradition of the elders.” They were not doing what the Pharisees taught, in other words. A teaching that is wise, but is not found in Scripture. 

This is why Jesus responded by saying: “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” 

Jesus is upset, but not because the Pharisees are criticizing his disciples. Not really. He is upset because the Pharisees are focused on the wrong things. They are so worried about holding onto their traditions that they have “lost the plot,” you might say, and have forgotten the basic teachings of Scripture. 

If you have spent any time reading the gospels, you’ll have noticed that Jesus is often “getting into it” with the Pharisees and scribes. In fact, when you think about it, Jesus spends much more of his time confronting the religious leaders of the time than the political leaders. Why is that? 

Jesus did not come to earth to overthrow Rome, which was disappointing to some. Instead, he came to earth to teach about God’s kingdom, to die for our sins, and to begin a movement called the church that is dedicated to continuing his teaching and to helping to usher in his kingdom. 

All of this is deeply connected to the religion that Jesus practiced, Judaism. Jesus did not come to abolish this, but to fulfill it. And to teach it. 

And what clearly frustrated him was when he came across teachers of the law, of his religion, who taught a corrupted version of it, usually for selfish reasons. And this is what we find in today’s gospel reading, in this confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. 

Spiritual But Not Religious?

This encounter makes me think of a popular expression in recent times, which is this way that some people have of describing themselves as being “spiritual but not religious.” When someone describes themselves in this way – and I am really not interested in attacking this at all, as you will see – they are suggesting that they believe in God, and have a relationship with God that is important to them, but they are not religious. Meaning, usually, that they do not find a connection to a church community to be helpful in living out their relationship with God. 

Many people, to be honest, have good reason to have given up on the church. It has hurt them in some way, or let them down. Or, they look at those of us who go to church and see people who are not living saintly lives. It is true, of course. We admit that. It is why we are here. Because we believe, as Martin Luther once said, that the church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners. 

We should certainly try to live our lives in such a way that people around us want the peace and the joy that we show them. But we should also have the humility and compassion to recognize that there are many people in the world who are spiritual but not religious for valid reasons. It doesn’t mean they always will be. We can pray and hope that they find the same meaning in religion that we have. But we shouldn’t judge them. 

Religious But Not Spiritual?

But what about the Pharisees and scribes? Jesus is judging them, isn’t he? Why? Well, when you think about it, the Pharisees are the opposite of those who are spiritual but not religious. They are, in fact, “religious but not spiritual.” 

They care deeply about their religion and their traditions and their commandments. They attack anyone who does not live by their rules. But their religious practice is entirely external. It does not transform their hearts. At least according to what we find in today’s reading. 

And Jesus is clearly frustrated with them. For this reason. He challenges them. And I think it is fair to say that he challenges us as well. Jesus challenges us to be both, both spiritual and religious. Let me explain a little better what I mean by that.  

First, Jesus does want us to be religious. Jesus as he was. Jesus spent time with God’s word, he worshiped in the synagogue every Sabbath, and he followed the teachings of his religion closely. 

Jesus went on to form a new community that he called the church. On the rock foundation of Peter’s faith, Jesus said that he would build his church. He called 12 apostles to be the first leaders of this church. And before he ascended into heaven, he commanded them to go into all the world to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that he taught. 

So, clearly Jesus was religious. And he wants us to be.  

But Jesus also wants us to be spiritual. He wants our religion to change us from the inside out. He does not want us to be like the Pharisees in this reading, who practiced their religion without having their hearts transformed.

Of course, being spiritual can mean so many different things. So let me spend the remainder of this sermon time looking at one specific teaching on being spiritual, the one that is found in today’s second reading, from the Letter of James (James 1:17-27). 

Letter of James – Welcoming the Word

What does this passage from James have to teach us about being both spiritual and religious? James begins by telling us to “welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save our souls.” The word here is obviously the word of God. It is the word of salvation that we receive from God’s holy word. Because this word points us to Jesus, our Savior, it offers us the power to save our souls. 

I have sometimes heard people say that they do not need the church, just the Bible. It is true that the Bible is the word of God, and reading the Bible and receiving its message is one of the most important things that we can ever do for our faith and relationship with God. No doubt about that. 

But where does the Bible come from? It comes from the church. The New Testament in particular is the direct result of the activity of the church. Without the church, there is no New Testament, there is no Bible. 

Think about how the New Testament came into existence. The early church wrote letters and collected them. They also shared the apostles’ recollections of Jesus, at first orally, and then recorded in our written gospels. The early church eventually began to gather all of this together, and identify which of these writings were inspired by God. 

As Lutherans, we believe that all of the Bible is inspired by God, and this means that the early church was led by the Spirit as it identified the writings that would become the New Testament. 

All of this might seem like I’ve gotten off the subject. But when you think about it, it really shows us how deeply connected religion and spirituality are for us. You cannot have one without the other. 

The writings of the Bible are deeply spiritual. In fact, Paul tells us that all of the writings of the Bible are inspired by God, which literally means they are the spirit, they are spiritual. But again, without religion, all of these inspired writings would have been lost to history. 

To put it another way, if the early church was spiritual but not religious, there would be no Bible. Simple as that. So we can give thanks to the early church for the ability to welcome God’s word into our souls and to receive the gift of salvation. 

Letter of James – True Religion And Doing the Word

But in the letter of James, we discover that all of this is just the beginning. Once we receive this word into our souls, we become what James famously describes as doers of the word, and not merely hearers. To be religious and spiritual is to do what our religion teaches us. Not just to hear it, but practice it. 

And finally, James offers one more very famous teaching on what all of this means, what it means to be religious and spiritual, and what it means to do the word. It means to have a religion that is pure and undefiled before God. And what that means in practice, James tells us, is to care for orphans and widows and their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 

Why orphans and widows? Orphans and widows in the time of this writing were the people who slipped through the cracks of their social network. This is an economy and culture that is built around family. And it is a patriarchal culture, which means it is really built around the men, the husbands and fathers. When you became an orphan or widow, you had little opportunity to earn money or to care for yourself or your family. 

Pure religion always means to care for those who cannot care for themselves. We can ask, and we should ask, who are the orphans and the widows of our time? Who are the people who cannot care for themselves? Who are the people who are slipping through the cracks? These are the people God calls us to care for. People who are spiritual and religious do this, simple as that.

Letter of James – Keeping Ourselves Unstained by the World 

And then, lastly, James reminds us today that if we are going to be both religious and spiritual, we must keep ourselves unstained by the world. And what I think that means is that when we are both religious and spiritual, we are people of faith and love and hope and joy, and all the fruit of the spirit that Paul describes so well, and that Jesus embodies so perfectly. 

We are not people who live our lives cynical or angry, with jealousy or hatred or prejudice. We don’t ignore the problems of the world, but we do not let them impact the faith and love and hope and joy that is at the heart of our Christian Life. 

Being both religious and spiritual means receiving these gifts of the spirit and putting them into action in our life. In the way that the Bible teaches, and in the way that Jesus models. Let us do this faithfully, to the glory of God. Amen.