Sermon manuscript:
Let’s begin by defining a couple words: defilement and
sanctification. These words are opposites. Defilement is when someone is made
unclean and unholy. Sanctification is when someone is made holy. Whether we are
defiled or sanctified is of utmost importance for how God regards us. If we are
defiled, then we are unacceptable before God. It’s like having something rotten
in your home. It stinks. Put that stuff outside. It doesn’t belong in the
house. That is how are we before God when we are defiled.
Being sanctified is the opposite. When we are holy, we
belong with God. One of the ways that the Bible talks about holiness is by
being properly dressed. When we are properly dressed we have no need to be
ashamed. If we were found in our underwear, or naked, we would be ashamed. But
when we are properly clothed we are acceptable. We can be seen. So it is for
those who are holy.
Defilement describes a state of being where we have no
business being together with God. Sanctification describes a state of being
where we belong together with God.
Understanding defilement and sanctification is essential for
understanding the religion that God gave to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai in the
Old Testament. God wanted the Israelites to be holy so that they could be with
him and he could be with them. To make the Israelites holy God instituted many laws,
rituals, and practices. Moses wrote these down in Exodus, and, especially, in
Leviticus. The entirety of Leviticus is God’s instructions for avoiding
defilement and what is to be done if someone has become defiled.
One of the regulations that God gave at that time was about
clean and unclean foods. Clean food could be eaten without defilement. Unclean
foods would defile the eater. For example, beef and lamb could be eaten. Pork,
shellfish, and several other animals would defile the eater. We won’t get into
the whys and wherefores of this. You can read about that yourself in Leviticus
11. What I’d like to point out is that according to the laws God gave to the
Israelites, there was such a thing as unclean food that would defile the
Israelites if they ate it.
This is important background information for our Gospel
reading. For the nearly 1,500 years, from Moses to Jesus, the Jews observed the
distinction between clean and unclean food. But then in our Gospel reading Jesus
says: “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is
nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things
that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Let’s apply Jesus’s words to unclean food. Unclean food is
something from outside. It defiles. Is Jesus rejecting the distinction between
clean and unclean food? Yes, he is. Jesus is even clearer, later, with his
disciples when they asked him to explain himself. He said, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that
whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not
his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus Jesus declared all foods
clean.) Jesus said, “All foods are clean.”
There seems to be an obvious contradiction between what
Leviticus 11 says and what Jesus says in our Gospel reading. Leviticus 11 says
that there are several foods that what will defile you. Jesus says, “Nothing from the outside can defile a person. What defiles a
person is what goes out from a person.” The Pharisees and scribes—always
quick to point out any faults they find with Jesus or with his disciples—thought
that Jesus was taking away from what God had commanded. We heard in our first
reading that nothing should be added or taken away from what God has said.
But instead of thinking that Jesus is contradicting the
Scriptures or taking something away, it might be helpful to think of what he is
doing as fulfilling the Scriptures. The Law that God gave to the
Israelites at Mt. Sinai was binding for a time, but that was not meant to be an
arrangement that would last for all time. Something new would take its place. This
was, in fact, already prophesied at that time.
In Deuteronomy 18, which is at the same time as Mt. Sinai, Moses
speaks of a mysterious Someone who is to come, who will be like him, but even
greater. Moses calls this one the “prophet.” He says, “The
Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
brother Israelites. Listen to him.” Jesus is the fulfillment of this
prophecy. Moses says, “Listen to him.” The
people had listened to Moses. Now we should listen to this Prophet. Moses says
so. So if Jesus declares that all foods are clean, then we should believe all
foods are clean. Jesus is Lord.
In order to do this, however, you must understand who Jesus
is. You must correctly identify him as the prophet spoken of by Moses. The
problem with the scribes and Pharisees was that they didn’t believe, or didn’t
want to believe, that Jesus is this prophet. They didn’t want to listen to him
even though Moses told them that they should. Because they didn’t want to believe
that Jesus is Lord, having authority over all things in heaven and on earth,
they instead saw him as an enemy. They thought that he was contradicting Moses,
taking away from Scripture, leading people astray. They became convinced that
they would be doing God a favor if they got rid of him, and eventually they crucified
him.
This question, of who Jesus is, is important and highly
consequential for every human being—not just for those scribes and Pharisees. We
know what they thought of Jesus. What do you say about Jesus? Your
answer is of eternal significance. The Catechism teaches us the correct answer
for what we should say about Jesus. It says, “I believe that Jesus Christ is my
Lord.” That is the shortest creed in Christendom. What does it mean to be a
Christian? Being a Christian is believing that Jesus Christ is your Lord.
When it comes to what we’ve been talking about
today—defilement and sanctification—Jesus being your Lord makes all the
difference. The Catechism goes on to describe Jesus’s lordship, what he does as
my Lord: “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord who has redeemed me, a lost
and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from
the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious
blood and his innocent suffering and death.”
You can hear defilement language and sanctification language
in that description of Jesus’s lordship. We hear defilement language when we
are spoken of as lost and condemned persons. We are defiled by what is in us
and what comes out of us. It is as Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “What comes out of a person defiles him… From the heart comes
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
Does what Jesus says describe you? Do you have evil
thoughts? Are you guilty of sexual immorality, which in the Greek is porneia,
which is where we get the word pornography? Do you covet? Do you lie? Do you
gossip? I, unfortunately, have done these things and more, which means that I
am a lost and condemned person. As far as how I am in myself I am defiled and
have no business being together with God. I should be swept out and put with
the rest of the trash.
But there is sanctification language too—the opposite of
defilement. The Catechism says that Jesus has redeemed me—a wonderful word! I
am redeemed! I have been purchased. I have been won—not with gold or silver,
but with the holy, precious blood and the innocent suffering and death of my
Lord and your Lord. The sacrifice of this Lamb of God has brought about an
eternal redemption so that all who trust in him will be clothed with holiness so
as to live together with God.
In conclusion, defilement and sanctification might not be
the most common words. But whether we are defiled or sanctified is of eternal
significance. Whether we are defiled or sanctified determines our relationship
with God. When we are living in sin and unbelief, we are defiled. When we call
out to Jesus in faith and say, “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” we are sanctified.
The stakes have been raised, so to speak, from what was
given at Mt. Sinai. Jesus reveals that our defilement is much deeper than we
would otherwise think or imagine. It goes all the way down into our heart, the
core of our being. But the remedy is also deeper. God has sent his Son to be
the Lord who redeems us.
Jesus is the one about whom Moses prophesied. We should
listen to him. What he has to say is not bad for us sinners, but good and life
giving. As Jesus himself says, “I have not come in
order to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
me.” Listen to him.
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