4. Jesus and Rituals

JERRY RECTOR | Physician

Should our desire to follow Jesus’ example translate into Sabbath-keeping? I’d like to highlight a couple of points about how Jesus related to the rituals of his day. First, when he touched lepers to heal them, he did not become unclean himself. Though he sent these men to the priests to re-establish their “cleanness,” there is no record of his going through the cleansing rituals himself because uncleanness was not able to defile him. He was imparting healing. When touched by the woman who had been bleeding for years on the way to Jairus’ house, and then later when he held Jairus’ daughter by the hand and raised her from the dead—these were both situations where the law declared that he was made ritually unclean. This did not concern Jesus, of course. He had a much higher purpose, and was soon to make this statement, 

“Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean…Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For 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.’) He went on: What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Mark 7:14-23.

There are several implications from this passage. Jesus is showing that in him, ritual law is being superceded by the eternal principles on which they were based. The Christian, reading these writings, realizes that the Jewish practices of cleansing, though clearly mandated in the books of the Law, are now irrelevant since Jesus became the complete revelation to which the Law and its rituals were pointing. The cleansing rituals, once learned, were actually so much easier to follow than the standard Jesus set. Instead of ritual purification, the Christian is called to clean living through his/her actions. Several of the principles contained in the commandments are mentioned (though not Sabbath-keeping, or even worship). But others (malice, lewdness, slander, and arrogance) while not addressed in the Ten Commandments, are still clearly “unclean” behavior.

That sexual immorality and lewdness go beyond simple adultery is clear, as they are mentioned in addition to adultery. It is clear that the principles contained within the Ten Commandments are more important than ever, but they are only the beginning of the lifestyle we will try to live through the Spirit and the grace of God. The critical distinction will become clear in Romans and is this: Our salvation is not dependent on our achieving that lifestyle. Rather, it is based on Jesus who successfully lived that life in our place. Our gratitude and love is what motivates us as Christians to follow in his example. Lastly, from this verse, the groundwork is laid for setting aside the system of clean and unclean foods. Paul will later quote from this scripture in making the same case when discussing clean and unclean meats. More on this later.

My point from the previous paragraph is that Jesus, while living in a Jewish society, growing up as a Jewish boy in the usual ways (circumcised, synagogue attendance, etc.), would begin to move his followers out of Jewish methods of religion and worship. The very Laws he gave to Moses, he would take the liberty of setting aside by fulfilling them. Besides the uncleanness discussed above, there was the harvesting of grain while passing through the field by his disciples on the Sabbath. This was clearly a violation of Sabbath law, but Jesus justifies it using an example of David violating a different ritual aspect of the same law, but who obviously received God’s blessing. Jesus is elevating his listeners, early Christians, and you and me, to principles above and beyond the law. 

Let’s evaluate specific statements Jesus made about the law, starting with the passage in Matthew 5:17-19. Many believe that Jesus is establishing with his own words the everlasting application of the Ten Commandments. I don’t believe this is the case, however. Here is why…first, the text,

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 5:17-19

The first key feature is in the first sentence and the term, “Law or the Prophets.” This is a clear reference to the entire Old Testament, which is divided into Law (1st 5 books), and Prophets (all the other books). Evidence for this is contained in these verses,

“For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John” Matt 11:13.

This is a clear reference to the body of Old Testament scripture.

“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent” Matt 12:5.

This was in defense of his disciples’ Sabbath-harvesting. The portion of the Law He is referring to is in Leviticus where the priest’s duties are described.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”Matt 22:36-40.

Note the use of the term “the Law and the Prophets” which clearly references the entire Old Testament Scripture. Further, “the Law” is clearly a reference to the Torah, or Pentateuch as we call the first five Bible books. Both of the commandments Jesus quotes are from these books, but neither is one of the Ten. The first is from Deuteronomy 6:5, and the second is from Leviticus 19:18. Of course Adventists are quick to point out that the Ten Commandments can be divided by first four (love for God) and last six (love for fellow man). This is an assumption. Jesus does not make this point. Rather, he broadly states that the message from the entire Old Testament Scripture can be summed up this way. †