Sunday's Message - Why We Build Walls

As disciples of Jesus, we've been called to follow him by claiming his example and learning from his teachings. From June to October, we're going to focus on the Gospel of Mark so that we might better understand how we might follow our Savior and live as his community. 

During the following twenty Sundays, the message will apply following passages:

June 6, 2021 - Mark 3:20-35

June 13, 2021 - Mark 4:26-34

June 20, 2021 - Mark 4:35-41

June 27, 2021 - Mark 5:21-43

July 4, 2021 - Mark 6:1-13

July 11, 2021 - Mark 6:14-29

July 18, 2021 - Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

July 25, 2021 - Mark 7:14-23

August 1, 2021 - Mark 7:24-37

August 8, 2021 - Mark 8:27-38

August 15, 2021 - Mark 9:30-37

August 22, 2021 - Mark 9:38-50

August 29, 2021 - Mark 10:2-16

September 5, 2021 - Mark 10:17-31

September 12, 2021 - Mark 10:35-45

September 19, 2021 - Mark 10:46-52

September 26, 2021 - Mark 12:28-34

October 3, 2021 - Mark 12:38-44

October 10, 2021 - Mark 13:1-8

October 17, 2021 - Mark 13:24-26, 32-36

On Sunday, July 25, 2021, we looked at Mark 7:14-23. The passage, the message and the podcast is below:

Mark 7:14-23 [Contemporary English Version]

Jesus called the crowd together again 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.” 

After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and had gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. He answered, “Don’t you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. It doesn’t go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

Why We Build Walls

This last week, as I thinking about what I was going to say this morning, I kind of got stuck. I mean, even though I don’t think the passage itself is all that hard to understand, how to present it, man, that just wasn’t coming. And so Friday evening, after Coco and I got home, we just stretched out on the bed with everything quiet so that I could think and pray and sort of meditate on what Jesus said and how it might related to us. And I’ll tell you, as I was laying there, one name kept coming up over and over again. And of course that name was King Kong. I mean, dah.

Let me explain. How many of y’all have seen any of the movies entitled King Kong, and I’m talking about the ones made in 1933 or 1976 or 2005? Even Kong: Skull Island would work. Well, in each of those movies, when the white guys on the ship get to the island, they find natives, portrayed in ways that reflected the prevailing racial sensitivity of the time. Anyway, given the fact that the natives were sharing a little bit of real estate with a ginormous gorilla and a bunch of other prehistoric creatures, in each movie, some natives in the past had built a wall to separate the people from the beasties. And evidently it has worked for centuries, of course, until the white people from the ship came and messed things up. But we really shouldn’t be concerned about the natives. I mean, they were all extras anyway. But be-that-as-it-may, at some point in their history, they built a great, big wall to protect themselves from this external threat.

And it seems to me, that’s probably the reason most walls are built. You see, whether they’re made with bricks and mortar or with words and laws, all walls seem to have the same purpose, to protect those on the inside from some threat on the outside. And I’ll tell you, when that’s the case, walls are really great, that is until a bunch of white people show up and mess things up. I mean, just think about what they offer when bad or unpleasant outside stuff is trying to get in. My gosh, they certainly offer a sense of security, even comfort when the temperature is cold and the wind is strong. And they sure separate us from all the stuff on the outside that we sure don’t want to let in, not unlike what the Parisians experienced when a horde of Vikings attacked their city in the year 845. But maybe most important of all, when we start feeling secure because the threat is out there and not in here, we can really focus on what’s most important, you know, stuff we couldn’t do if we were living a field in the middle of winter or running away from guys with horns on their heads. You see, when there’s a real threat coming in from the outside, man, walls are pretty sweet, aren’t they?

But I’ll tell you, that all changes when the real problem isn’t out there, instead it’s in here. You see, walls are kind of a waste of money and stone and paper when the real problem is with those within the house or the city. As a matter of fact, they may actually be worst than just a waste, because the minute we focus our attention on getting the wall built, that might actually cause us to feel a false sense of security. I mean, that’s a lot like Lou Costello barricading the door only to find the monster in the room with him. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go home and watch Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. But not only that, when we misunderstand where the real threat is coming from, man, we can end up pushing away men and women who are actually really good people, you know, folks who can make living better. But you know, maybe worst of all, when we expend time and effort and money to protect ourselves from a bunch of non-threats, all that can really distract us from fixing what may actually be most important and most dangerous. You see, although walls may be great when the danger is on the outside, they become useless when the real problem is on the inside. 

And I’ll tell you, I think that was the issue in the scripture we just read a little while ago. You see, in the passage that came right before, a bunch of Jewish Pharisees and scribes were ragging on Jesus about why his disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate, something that their religious law required them to do. But of course, it wasn’t the first time this kind of thing had happened to Jesus. My gosh, they’d already gotten on his case when the disciples were plucking off and eating heads of grain on the Sabbath, something that violated the Law, or when Jesus had healed a guy with a withered hand, also on the Sabbath. And when Jesus put is hands on a leper or when he allowed a bleeding woman to touch his clothes or when he took the hand of that little girl who’d died, it didn’t matter to them that the man was healed and the woman was made whole and the girl recovered. You see, according to their law, doing any of those things made Jesus unclean (period, close the book, Elvis has left the building). Now that’s what they believed.

And you know, since those Jewish leaders saw nothing wrong with what they were doing, they brought the hammer down on Jesus. You see, for them, the Law, well, that was like a wall, protecting them from all that evil stuff out there in the world. In fact, they believed that their very relationship with God was threatened; therefore, they couldn’t allow unclean thoughts and actions to pollute them and their way of life. My gosh, just think of the children, if people were allowed to do things that were good but illegal on the most holy day of the week or worse if folks were allowed to the cleanse the unclean by touching them. You know, that stuff rubs off, and one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. And so they believed that they could construct a wall of rules and regulations that would keep them safe from the evil lurking on the outside, you know, that would protect them from the obvious danger posed by bacon and crabs and my personal favorite, oysters. And that’s exactly what they did. And since they believed what they were doing was both right and godly, they made no exceptions, even for someone who healed the sick and raised the dead.

But as Jesus reminded them in the passage we read, their whole premise was wrong. You see, according to Jesus, their relationship with God wasn’t damaged by eating with dirty hands nor could it be compromised by the food they ate. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t threatened by all that outside evil trying to get in. Instead, the problem was with all that inside garbage that was constantly leaking out. Remember, “then Jesus said: What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.” [Mark 7:20-23, CEV] You see, the legal wall those Jewish leaders had created, man, it solved a problem that didn’t exist; therefore, not only did it give them a false sense of security and separate them from everyone else, it ultimately led them to condemn their own messiah to death on a cross. But that’s just what happens when you build a wall, but the problem is on the inside. 

And I’ll tell you, I think this is something that applies to us just like it did to them, and I’m talking about us as individuals and as a community. I mean, whether we want to admit it or not, we can focus a lot of attention on the outside when we probably should be looking within. And because we know that can cause all kinds of problems, I think it’s probably worth our while to do three things that those Jewish leaders in Mark never did. You see, first, I believe it’s important for us to recognize that Christians can do the same kind of thing in our world that those Jews did in theirs. I mean, let’s get real; I think it’s incredibly easy for Christians to assume that we’re threatened by a lot of bad stuff on the outside, and I don’t care whether you’re talking about public morality and political agendas or peewee football on Sundays or cell phones in the sanctuary. And because it’s easy for us to assume that this is causing the problems we face, it just makes sense for us to construct laws to keep those wicked values far away from us. I’ll tell you, as it relates to building walls, I think we need the honesty to recognize that modern Christians can be just as wrong as ancient Jews. That’s one.

And second, once we’ve recognized that we might be wrong, we can then accept that Jesus just might be right. He was right about them, and he just might be right about us. Now, let me be clear; I’m certainly not saying that his laundry list of unclean stuff is pouring out of every heart. That would be ridiculous. Still, before I decide to wag my finger at those out there, I probably should take a hard look at what’s going on in here. Now to me, that just makes sense. And remember, according to Matthew, Jesus said, “God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them. You can see the speck in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the log in your own eye. How can you say, ‘My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you don’t see the log in your own eye?” [Matthew 7:2-4, CEV] You see, right after we recognize that we might be mistaken about the source of what threatens us, we can then muster up the humility to accept that we might want to look inside before we blame those on the outside. And that’s two.

And I’ll tell you why I think that’s so important. You see, third, after we’ve taken a long, hard look at ourselves, we can start working to change some of the stuff on the inside that we’d prefer to ignore. In other words, instead of me grabbing some tweezers to work on their specks, I might want to lease a skidder to remove my logs. Now that’s something we can do. And as we start, I think it’s crucial that we keep two things in mind. One, every single unclean item Jesus listed can be scrubbed, if we decide to do it. And two, we’re making changes in the context of God’s love. And that’s also important to remember. You see, God’s compassion and mercy isn’t based on us being right or even doing the right things. As Paul wrote, “nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” [Romans 8:39b, CEV] I said it last week, and I’m saying it today, and I may say it again next Sunday: God loves us. And because of that, who knows, as we clean ourselves up, we just might become more aware of a different source of security, one called grace. And we just might become more inviting to the very folks who hoover on the fringes. And we just might become more able to do the very thing we’ve been called to do. You see, after recognizing that we might be wrong and accepting that Jesus might be right, we claim the strength needed to change. And that’s three.

Of course, as any of the four King Kong movies taught us, building a wall can make a lot of sense, because as every native knows, it’ll keep a giant gorilla from stomping on your village, at least until some white people on a ship come and mess things up. No, a good, solid wall can offer a lot security and can separate us from threats and can enable us to focus, but only if the problem is coming from the outside. But of course, that’s not always the case. I mean, as Jesus reminded those Jewish leaders, our relationship with God may be far more threatened by what’s coming from the human heart and than anything our laws and rules were written to keep away. And for that reason, we might want to recognize the reality we face and accept our flaws and short-comings and work to improve ourselves on the inside. Now those are some things we can do. And you know, in light of that, as Christians, maybe instead of thinking about why we build walls, maybe we should be asking ourselves this: from where are the real threats coming?