How Does God Respond to Defilement?

The last few days I have been percolating on the following reflection.  

Earlier this week I felt led to read from Mark chapter 7.  It is always interesting uncovering what it is that the Lord wants me to reflect upon. Here are the verses - Mark 7:17-23 NIV:

[17] "After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. [18] “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? [19] For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 

[20] He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. [21] For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come---sexual immorality, theft, murder, [22] adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. [23] All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

This whole section, and the discussion before the quoted verses above seem rather benign today, but think about how this statement must have seemed to the Jews whose whole lives were affected by the dietary and cleanliness laws of their faith.  We still see some of this dietary practice today, and it is amazing to me that after these statements by Jesus that the apostles and other disciples maintained any semblance of adherence to the dietary laws.  

We do find in Acts 15:28-29, the council in Jerusalem essentially stating that Gentiles didn't need to follow the majority of the dietary laws of the Jews, and that was probably still shocking to the Jews.  It is a difficult thing to put away patterns of life that have been established for hundreds if not a thousand years.  There always seems to be a group that thinks the old ways are better, and make one more pure, or a better follower of God.  This religious spirit is difficult to discern and root-out, but at the core it is judgment.

What always caused me to stop are all of the other sources of defilement that Jesus Himself gives us.  Most of them we would completely agree with, but there are some that many don't see as defiling today.  The last word - folly is an interesting one. The Greek is defined as follows by Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

folly, foolishly.

From aphron; senselessness, i.e. (euphemistically) egotism; (morally) recklessness -- folly, foolishly(-ness).

This senselessness (Not thinking something through, or just being totally focused on oneself), along with greed, deceit, envy, slander and arrogance seem to be all around us in our culture today.  According to Jesus these are not just poor character-traits, but they bring a defilement to one's heart.  

Defilement or uncleanness, as understood by the Jews is not a commonly used term today by the majority of the world.  The word actually means to make common, and the Jews were supposed to be anything but common. 

I found the following helpful:  "Generally, the Mosaic Law spoke of something as “unclean” if it was unfit to use in worship to God. Being “clean” or “unclean” was a ceremonial designation governing the ritual of corporate worship. For example, there were certain animals, like pigs, considered unclean and therefore not to be used in sacrifices (Leviticus 5:2); and there were certain actions, like touching a dead body, that made a living person unclean and temporarily unable to participate in the worship ceremony (Leviticus 5:3).

While a wide variety of circumstances could make a person, animal, or item unclean, the majority of the laws outlined activities disqualifying a person or animal in connection with the tabernacle offerings. An animal offered for sacrifice had to be without defect. The person who offered the sacrifice also had to be “clean” before the Law; i.e., the worshiper had to comply with the Law and approach God with reverence."  ( https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-unclean.html)

I was thinking about this more, and there is a teaching that I heard a long-time ago that said our sin caused God to separate Himself from us, as He wouldn't choose to dwell with or be near a sinful person. This is clearly related to the Old Testament teaching, found in Genesis when God expels Adam and Eve from the garden for their sin.  We hear this echoed in the following verses from Isaiah 59:1-2 NIV:  "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. [2] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."  I think this is very similar to the idea of uncleanliness and defilement causing you to not be able to participate in the corporate worship.

The question to me is whether this is true today under the New Covenant?  Jesus clearly discusses defilement, and includes a list of things that are internally motivated.  The question I have is whether He would stay away from one who is defiled, as described in the verse from Isaiah above?  

That is really the heart of the question.  Does God remove himself from our presence if we are defiled and sinners?

My first reaction is no, He does not.  A couple of different stories and verses come to mind, Jesus touching and healing the leper, (Matt 8:2-4), the story of the Prodigal (Luke 15:11-31) and the story of the sinful woman anointing Jesus' feet (Luke 7:36-50).  Each of these represent a time that a clearly defiled person (using the Jewish definition, and even Jesus' refined definition of defilement), interacted with Jesus (Or in the story, the Father), and Jesus was absolutely not removing Himself from the presence of the defiled one.  We know that Jesus dined with sinners (Matt 9:10-13) and when questioned about that (for the Pharisees thought God, an certainly the Messiah would separate themselves from the sinful) replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These verses and stories seem to indicate the exact opposite of the verse from Isaiah, but when we look closely at the verses from Isaiah, we see that the one that turned away is actually the sinner, not God. In effect, they have turned their gaze from God, and He has become hidden from their sight because they are looking in the wrong direction.  Repentance means to turn around, and act differently, and if we applied that to the people addressed in Isaiah, they would see God!! 

This morning, I am greatly encouraged that the Lord does not separate Himself from us when we sin or defile ourselves.  It is then that we need Him more than ever, reaching to us, touching us and helping us to see our state.  He might tell us to turn around, that our sinfulness is causing us to look at the wrong thing, or in the wrong direction.  Jesus came to the world of sinners out of love, He didn't reject them, He called them to change,  because He loved them.

Oh Lord, help us to demonstrate Your love to those around us in need of a changed perspective. 

Amen and Amen.