It seems counterintuitive at first. Opposite the way we would think about it. We think that what defiles us, what soils us, what makes us “unclean,” comes from outside ourselves. After all, when it comes to dust, dirt, and grime, we don’t get dirty from the inside out, but from the outside in. The dust and grime in the air corrode our lungs. The pollution from the world fouls our insides. We take baths and showers to wash off the filth that clings to us from the outside. A man becomes a drunkard by taking in drink. A person becomes a drug addict by taking in drugs. A kid becomes a gang member by hanging out with the wrong crowd. From our vantage point, we are soiled from the outside in.

“This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13.

“”You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:1-13

Tradition. You can almost hear Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof belting that word out at the top of his lungs, clinging to it with all his might as his little world is coming unraveled. Tradition. The things handed down from the generations before, like a baton in a relay race. Tradition. Singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the 7th inning stretch. Singing the “Star Spangled Banner” before a sporting event. Tradition — the Thanksgiving turkey or the Christmas tree or you fill in the blanks and don’t you dare try and change any of them!

“Truly, truly (amen, amen!) I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56).

Imagine that you are John, the evangelist, the man who recorded the words I just read and you just heard. You have the record of Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. You heard with your ears. You remember every word distinctly. The question before you is this: Do you write it down and make it part of your Gospel? Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn’t. Will you write this “hard saying” down? This saying the even scandalized the inner group of disciples, maybe even you?

Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. (1 Kings 19:7)

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:50-51)

Fight or flight. Those are the two alternatives programmed into us. When we are in a tough situation, when we are tested, when we are cornered we either fight or we flee. But what happens when you can neither fight nor flee? Our OT text this morning gives a third option, the overlooked option, the one we don’t naturally seek or take: faith.

The whole congregation grumbled as one. They grumbled against Moses and against Aaron. They grumbled against God. They wished they had died in Egypt. At least the food was good. They were hungry, bread-less and faithless. Sound familiar? Of course it does. When we’re hungry, we act as if we had no God. When we’re full too. Filled we don’t need God; hungry we don’t trust God. What’s God to do?