Clean hands or clean heart? || 清洁的手抑或清洁的心？

Jan 27, 2022 | Waimai

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This Spiritual Waimai is a part of a series entitled Mission Accomplished: the mission of Jesus Christ as told by Matthew and now lived out by you and me.

这篇属灵外卖是“完成的使命”系列文章之一，这个由马太福音所述耶稣基督的使命，现在要由你我活出来。

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Mathew 15:1-2 NIV

那时，有法利赛人和文士从耶路撒冷来见耶稣，说：“你的门徒为什么犯古人的遗传呢？因为吃饭的时候，他们不洗手。
马太福音15:1-2

Can you imagine that these Pharisees traveled over 100 kilometers from Jerusalem to just to ask Jesus about washing hands. According to the oral Jewish tradition (not the Law of Moses), Jews were required to wash their hands in a ceremony before they eat. This was not a law from God, but a part of the Jewish culture that was developed by Jewish leaders over the years. Some Jewish people still follow these hand washing rules today.

能想象得到吗？这些法利赛人从100多公里外的耶路撒冷赶来，就是为了问耶稣有关洗手的问题。根据口传的犹太传统（不是摩西律法），在吃饭前，犹太人需要有洗手的仪式。这不是神的律法，而是犹太文化的一部分，是经年以来犹太领袖们逐步制定的。至今还有一些犹太人遵循这些洗手的规条。

This religious handwashing washed away the dirt from a person’s hands and as this religious ritual was performed it gave the appearance of being holy. So, when Jesus’ disciples did not do this special handwashing, the Pharisees judged them to not be holy men. They interpreted this as Jesus breaking religious rules and gave them an easy excuse to criticize Jesus, discounting all of His teaching. It was as if they were saying, “Lok at that! Jesus’ disciples don’t wash their hands, obviously they are not holy men and their leader is rejecting our holy tradition. Therefore, He is not a true Jewish teacher.”

这种宗教化的洗手可以洗掉人手上的灰尘。履行这个宗教仪式，让人在外表上看起来圣洁。所以，当耶稣的门徒没有这样特别洗手时，法利赛人就论断他们是不圣洁的人。他们把这个解读为耶稣违反宗教规条，让他们有现成的借口来批评耶稣、贬低耶稣的教导。这就像他们在说：“看哪！那个耶稣的门徒不洗手，显然他们不圣洁！他们的领袖拒绝我们的圣统。所以，祂不是真正的犹太教师。”

Jesus responded to their accusation with a question for them. He made a strong distinction between the “tradition of the elders” that these leaders so highly esteemed, and the command of God.

耶稣以问题来回应他们的控告。祂着重区分了这些宗教领袖高度推崇的“古人的遗传“和神的诫命。

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ”
Matthew 15:3-9 NIV

耶稣回答说：“你们为什么因着你们的遗传，犯神的诫命呢？神说：‘当孝敬父母’，又说：‘咒骂父母的，必治死他。’你们倒说：‘无论何人对父母说，我所当奉给你的，已经作了供献，他就可以不孝敬父母。’这就是你们藉着遗传，废了神的诫命。假冒为善的人哪！以赛亚指着你们说的预言是不错的。他说‘这百姓用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我，他们将人的吩咐当作道理教导人，所以拜我也是枉然。’”
马太福音15:3-9

Jesus often answered accusations with His own questions. He was pointing out that their seemingly religious dedication (giving money to the temple that should be used to care for their family) was interfering with their true God-given obligation to honor their parents.

耶稣经常以问题来回应控告。祂指出他们表面的宗教奉献（把本来供养家用的资财奉献给圣殿）有悖于神定规的真正的义务—-孝敬父母。

Jesus then pushed the issue further and exposed the true issue: the religious people would honor God with their words, but their hearts were far from God. Their worship was empty and their teaching not from God, but just an enormous list of human rules they had created themselves.

然后耶稣进一步曝露了真正的问题：这些宗教人士只是用言语来尊荣神，他们的心却远离神。他们的敬拜空洞无物，他们的教导并非出于神，只是他们自己制定的众多规条而已。

To those of us who are Christians living in 2022, a handwashing ceremony seems very foreign. It is easy for us to roll our eyes at those leaders and consider them to be petty, narrow-minded and self-focused. But let’s consider our own religious traditions. What ceremonies do we participate in that honor God with our lips only? Is our worship ever empty? Is our teaching ever based on our opinions?

对于我们这些生活在2022年的基督徒而言，洗手的仪式看起来很怪异。我们很容易对这些宗教领袖表示轻蔑，认为他们关注小节、心胸狭隘且关注自我。但让我们考量一下自己的宗教传统。我们参加过什么仪式，在其中只是用嘴巴来敬拜神？我们的教导是否曾建基于自己的观点？

We often automatically blurt out, “God bless you. Praise God. I will pray for you.” It is easy to look sincere during worship time. Or our own opinions about what we believe people should do roll off of our tongues. It is even fairly simple to have the appearance of doing good things.

我们经常下意识地脱口而出：“神祝福你。感谢神。我会为你祷告。“敬拜时显得真诚很容易。再或是很容易就说出自己的观点，认为大家该做什么。表面上看起来在做良善的事相当简单。

But what about the heart? Is our heart close to God? Or are we acting in a Christian-religious way? What is most important to Jesus is that our heart is close to God. For when our heart is close to God, what comes out of our mouth and how we live our lives will truly honor God and bless others. It will not be a religious façade.

那么内心如何呢？我们的心跟神亲近吗？还是我们就是以基督教的方式行事？对于耶稣，我们心里亲近神是最重要的。因为我们的心若亲近神，我们口中所出的话、我们如何生活就会真正荣耀神并祝福到他人，而不仅仅是只有宗教的外表而已。

After talking to the Pharisees, Jesus called the crowd close to Him. He wanted to use this teaching moment.

跟法利赛人谈话结束后，耶稣把众人叫到跟前来。祂想利用此刻来教导。

“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Matthew 15:10-11 NIV

耶稣就叫了众人来，对他们说：“你们要听，也要明白。入口的不能污秽人，出口的乃能污秽人。”
马太福音15:10-11

Listen and understand! Jesus called the people to think more deeply about what it means to be holy. To be defiled is to be unclean, dirty, impure, polluted, corrupted. The Pharisees thought that eating with unwashed hands would make a person defiled. But Jesus said it was not a skin-deep issue, but a heart-deep issue.

你们要听，也要明白！耶稣呼吁人们更深刻思考圣洁的意义。污秽指不洁净、肮脏、不纯洁、被污染和腐烂。法利赛人以为不洗手就吃饭会让人一个人变得污秽。但是耶稣问题不在皮肤而是深及内心。

At this point, the disciples started to feel a little uncomfortable with the conversation. They grew up with all of these religious rules and they were sensing the accusations of the Pharisees. The disciples were a bit worried about Jesus’ strong statement contradicting the Pharisees.

到了这会儿，门徒们开始对谈话感到有一些不舒服。他们在宗教规条中长大，能感受到法利赛人的控告。门徒们有些担心，因为耶稣的强烈言词跟法利赛人正面冲突。

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Matthew 15:12-20 NIV

当时，门徒进前来对他说：“法利赛人听见这话不服（“不服”原文作“跌倒”），你知道吗？”耶稣回答说：“凡栽种的物，若不是我天父栽种的，必要拔出来。任凭他们吧！他们是瞎眼领路的，若是瞎子领瞎子，两个人都要掉在坑里。”彼得对耶稣说：“请将这比喻讲给我们听。”耶稣说：“你们到如今还不明白吗？岂不知凡入口的，是运到肚子里，又落在茅厕里吗？惟独出口的，是从心里发出来的，这才污秽人。因为从心里发出来的，有恶念、凶杀、奸淫、苟合、偷盗、妄证、谤讟，这都是污秽人的。至于不洗手吃饭，那却不污秽人。”
马太福音15:12-20

It seems that even the disciples were having a hard time understanding what Jesus was getting at. So finally, Jesus got pretty graphic and direct. The food that goes in your mouth and out your body… that won’t cause you to be impure. Dirty hands, and even “unclean” food is not going to affect your spiritual life. But what will cause you to become dirty is what is deeper – the evil thoughts in your heart.

似乎门徒们也很难明白耶稣想表达什么。所以耶稣最后直截了当，并使用形象化的言语。吃进嘴巴和排出体外的食物…不能使你变得不洁。肮脏的手，甚至“不洁净“的食物不会影响属灵生命。然而让人变得不洁的是更深层次的东西—内心的恶念。

Just in case Peter and the rest of the disciples were still unclear, Jesus listed out the hidden thoughts in a person’s heart that would cause them to be spiritually unclean.

耶稣怕彼得和其他的门徒们仍旧不明白，祂列出了一个人内心隐藏的意念，那些可能会导致他们属灵上不洁净的意念。

Murder
Adultery
Sexual immorality
Theft
False testimony
Slander

凶杀
淫乱
苟合
偷盗
妄证
诽谤

Earlier in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made the connection between murder and hate. He said that hate in one’s heart was the same sin as murder. Now Jesus was warning the disciples that if there was hate hidden in the heart towards a person or a group of people, it would be revealed through words. It could come forth as criticism, negative comments, gossip, angry words, or insults. I am sure you can think of many ways the hate in a person’s heart can escape out of their mouth.

早些时候在登山宝训里，耶稣把谋杀和仇恨联系起来。祂说人心里的恨等同于谋杀的罪。耶稣现在警告门徒们，心里若暗暗怀恨某人或某群人，那这恨会透过话语表露出来，会表现为批评、负面的评论、说长道短、怒气冲冲的话语或者侮辱。心里的恨从嘴里冒出来的途径多种多样，我肯定你能想到很多。

Adultery is having an affair with a married person. Sexual immorality is having sex with someone before marriage. In either case, this sin originates in the heart. These kinds of relationship don’t just happen by surprise; they begin with thoughts, feelings and desires harbored in the heart. These desires if left unchecked may develop into sinful actions.

犯奸淫是跟已婚人士发生婚外情。苟合指在婚前跟某人发生性行为。在两种情形中，罪都是从心里开始。这种关系不是一下子就发生的，而是开始于藏在心里的念头、情感和欲望。不加节制的欲望会发展成罪的行为。

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:14-15 NIV

但各人被试探，乃是被自己的私欲牵引、诱惑的。私欲既怀了胎，就生出罪来；罪既长成，就生出死来。
雅各书1:14-15

Theft can be any kind of stealing. Money, items or even pretending someone else’s idea is your own. Theft originates in the heart: greed, covetousness, entitlement, selfishness, all of which may lead to stealing.

偷盗可以是任何形式的偷窃。金钱、物品，甚至假装别人的点子是你自己的。偷盗源自内心：贪心、贪婪、自以为当得的心态、自私，这些都可能导致偷窃的发生。

Finally, false testimony and slander are both forms of lying. Lying about yourself, lying about another person or a situation. Why do people lie? It is because there is something in their heart that is not right. They are insecure, ashamed or afraid, so they lie about what they did. They are jealous and hateful, so they lie about another person.

最后，妄证和诽谤都是不同形式的撒谎。就自己、别人或某种情形撒谎。人为什么撒谎？因为他们的心不对，不安全感、羞愧或者惧怕，所以在所作的事上撒谎。他们嫉妒，充满愤恨，所以撒他人的谎。

Guard your heart
保守你心

Let us check our own hearts. Do we have only an outward appearance of being a good Christian yet in our hearts we hide away destructive thoughts, desires, beliefs? What is in our heart will eventually come out in our words and actions.

审视自己的内心。我们是徒有其表吗？只是外表看起来是虔敬的基督徒而内心却隐藏着破坏性的思想、欲望和信念吗？内心终究会以言语行为表达出来。