Category: Thinking about Biblical PARABLES

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶ [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”  Mark 7:14-23  [NASB]

The Pharisees had been criticizing Jesus because the disciples didn’t wash before eating.  Jesus rebuked them for focusing on the unimportant for the sake of tradition while undermining the important.

Then Jesus went on to say – in the form of this short parable – that people are not defiled by what goes in but by what comes out.

It is an ‘earthy’ parable, very straightforward.  It is not what is going into us that makes us unclean, but what is eliminated.  However, for the disciples, the application was not so straightforward.

Jesus was saying that we are not defiled or unclean because or failure to be ritually clean by what we put into our mouths.  We are defiled or unclean because of the evil – the sin – that proceeds from our hearts.

While Jesus was making a point rather than a list of possible sins, it is worth looking at the list to see what God regards as wickedness.

Notice that these sins range from thoughts and attitudes (envy) to words (slander) and deeds.   Notice also that these sins range from what anyone would agree is evil (murder) to things that many people think are innocuous (foolishness) or even good (pride).

– SSXG

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. ³ There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; ⁷ now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”    Luke 18:1-8.  [NASB]

As my pastor pointed out, this is not an analogy.  We are not to look on God as an unjust judge.  Rather, this is an a fortiori argument.  Another example is God’s care over the sparrows and his care over us.  If God cares even about the sparrows, how much more does he care about us?

The example in Luke 18 is similar.  If an unjust judge will eventually give justice to a woman he cares nothing about, how quickly will God answer the prayers of his chosen ones?

Although the widow is persistent, we are not told that persistence is the point of the parable.  We are told, in fact, the opposite.  We are told that God’s chosen ones can expect justice quickly.  This would seem to mean that God will answer our prayers quickly.

There is a final question that may be the key to this parable:  Will [the Son of Man] find faith on the earth?  Faith is the confidence that God will bring about speedy justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night.  If this speaks about prayer, then we have to understand that we must have faith to believe that God will answer our prayers.

Indeed, it may be that this is the very reason that God, who knows everything, asks us to tell him our needs.  He wants us to show our faith in him.

– SSXG

  ²³ “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵ But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ ²⁹ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ ³⁰ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. ³¹ So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. ³² Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. ³⁵ My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”   Luke 18:23-35  [NASB]

Our pastor referred to this passage in a sermon on the Lord’s Prayer.  He was pointing out the connexion between our prayer to receive forgiveness and our willingness to be forgiving.

However, what caught my attention was the analogy to salvation – the forgiveness of debts being analogous to the forgiveness of sin.

The senior slave was forgiven the debt, and the forgiveness was subsequently revoked.  There can be no claim here that the forgiveness wasn’t real – which is what some assert when a Christian renounces his or her faith.  The debt had been forgiven by the king’s grace.

What is clear is that the fact of his forgiveness was expected to produce a change in his conduct towards his fellow slaves.  Because he did not forgive others, the forgiveness he had received was cancelled.

At the very least, we need to heed the words of Jesus:  ¹⁴ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. – Matthew 6:14,15

 – SSXG