The Law of Exclusion

"Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,* thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;* and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.*) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live* according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’ Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God*)— then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’ Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’* When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’"

Jesus saw how religious leaders used the law, including human traditions, to encourage prejudice and maintain exclusionary boundaries. When you hear "tradition of the elders" think system of control and maintenance that prejudices against those who are not acceptably obeying the rules set forth. There were some laws they ignored, if they were not in their self-interest.  And some laws or social norms they insisted on, in order to assert their own social agenda.  This way they justified themselves and excluded others.  Rather than show mercy and offer healing, the religious leaders simply dismissed non-adherents to their version of the law or social norm. "Sinners" were not welcome.  Some people had a place at the table.  Many others did not.  This clearly does not happen today.  Does it?
On the surface one might suggest that this story has little bearing on most of our lives.  This is, after all, a story about kosher foods and Jewish rituals.  According to Mark, Jesus abolished the kosher laws when they were used to alienate or exclude.  And he accuses them of ignoring more important aspects of the law, while focusing their norming religious piety on less weighty matters.  Jesus cares about the people who are adversely affected by these human traditions.
Churches have excluded people because of race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, appearance, mental or physical condition, economic status, and a variety of other reasons.  In Jesus' day a system of social norms controlled insiders and outsiders to the religious community---which controlled access to the benefits of God's provision and protection.  If one was deemed unfit or unclean, they were denied access.  In the case above, ritual cleansing was required for eating.  However, Jesus was more concerned about feeding hungry people than whether or not their hands were properly cleaned.  That may sound gross, but the reality is that hunger trumps religious piety.
Now, in my house we pray and wash our hands before we eat.  No big deal.  So what is Jesus so upset about?  A system of exclusion that perpetually denied most people access to God's favor and table fellowship within the faith community.  How could non-Jews every get to know and love God, if Jews continued to reject them?  That is the rub here.  Jesus was more interested in inviting people into a relationship with the creator than he was in upholding a moral code that denied people a sense of dignity as beloved in their common humanity.
There are still systems in place that exclude and deny people access.  The criminal justice system and the current economic system in the U.S. continue to separate people into haves and have nots, good guys and bad guys, blessed and cursed, beloved and maligned.  And we designed these systems to do these things.  So that people of privilege and power retain their proper status and people in poverty stay poor.  Poverty is not a lack of money.  It is not a lack of work ethic.  It is a system of control perpetrated by peolpe at the top of the human pyramid to stay on top.  Jesus saw this for what it was and sought to dismantle it piece by piece.  His calling all foods clean meant one thing.  Gentiles could have access to God, too.  The peculiarity of Judaism was not as essential as the common, universal truth of a humanity hungry for a life that comes from above, from God, from the greatest good.  Everyone wants to eat at the table.  Everyone wants to be part of a Shalom existence, in which there is harmony and abundance.    How do we get there?
Confront the systems that keep denying people their humanity. 
We need to have Jesus' imagination to see a world without walls, borders, and barriers.  A world of access and sharing.  A world where we see and hear beauty in the diversity.  A world where forgiveness and restoration overcomes a need for punishment and vengeance.  I know that this world cannot exist, because there are violent and dangerous people in this world.  But if we cannot dream, we cannot hope.  And if we cannot hope, we will not try.  And if we will not try, we will become complicit in the systematic death of humanity and the creation.  Is it too late?  I hope not.  For the sake of my sons.  And all the sons and daughters everywhere.