The Lure of Convenience

Scripture – Mark 7:14-23: ¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’” ¹⁷After 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 man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) ²⁰He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ²¹For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

Reflection: What an interesting observation Jesus makes here. It’s clear from Mark’s editorial comment in vs. 19 that Jesus, on one level, is talking about food. However, He’s talking about food in the 1^st century. We have quite a different diet in 21^st century North America.

Much of what we eat today does go into our heart – and usually not in a good way. For all our talk about eating healthy foods, it’s very hard to do. We are so taken by the lure of convenience that we eat all kinds of stuff because it’s easier and faster than taking time to actually cook and prepare a meal. A basic rule of thumb seems to be, the more processed a food is, the less healthy it is. Such is the price of affluence today.

Given that, what is Jesus’ word for us – for me – today? I find myself aware that I ignore a lot of this. I even joke about our “healthy” meals at McDonald’s. I’ll pay attention to what I eat over these next few days. The idea of “clean” and “unclean” food has quite a different meaning in this culture.

Lord, guide me today. Give me a disciplined heart which will lead to a cleaner heart. I know you’re talking about way more than food here. Yet this is a great place to focus. Be the Lord of my diet this day as you provide my daily bread.

An Invitation: For anyone interested in sharing their personal reflections from this week’s readings, you are invited to come by the Tim Hortons donut shop at Dix-Toledo and Northline in Southgate this Sunday morning at 9:45am. We’ll have a cup of coffee and see what the Lord has been teaching us this week.