GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 7:21
Heart Pains
A few years ago, I had some unusual chest pains, so I scheduled an appointment with my physician, whom I had been seeing for over twenty-five years. I’ve read the literature about heart pains and heart attacks and wondered if I was experiencing some type of heart problem. In his office, the physician rolled in a device and performed an electrocardiogram (EKG), which didn’t show any abnormalities. Not satisfied, however, he scheduled a stress test for the next day. That test didn’t show any abnormalities. Still not satisfied, he scheduled a nuclear cardiac stress test for early the next week—even the name of that test seemed enough to give any person heart palpitations.
In his office, the day after the nuclear cardiac stress test, we went over the results. He checked off several conditions: not a smoker, not a drinker, not overweight, no apparent psychological stress, some regular exercise. He looked back at the test results, and everything appeared normal. So he concluded, “You must have been having chest pains.” Great, I thought. I knew I was having chest pains. What I wanted to know was why—why I was having chest pains? For me, the good news is that since that time, I’ve not experienced the same type of pain.
vMark’s account of Jesus’ teaching about the difference between ceremonial defilement and spiritual defilement reminded me of the heart-test experience. It is interesting to note that nowhere in this lesson does Jesus reject ceremonial handwashing, only its misrepresentation. He told his disciples that ceremonies, including handwashing, did not make a person clean or unclean—spiritually speaking. It was not what went into a person that defiled him, but what came out. “For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts: sexual immoralities, thefts, murders.” (Mark 7:21)
It seems that Jesus said the heart trouble of men is evil thoughts, with the rest of the list is stated in apposition. In other words, “evil thoughts” is not a class unto itself but expresses itself in the list Jesus gave—evil thoughts of sexual immoralities, evil thoughts of thefts, and so forth. However one reads this sentence, the problem begins not by forgetting to pour water over the hands but in the heart—a heart pain.
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