A Problem of the Heart

I’m not a big superhero fan. But as the box office numbers from the last 20 years tell us, superheroes are kind of our culture’s new figures that we aspire to be. One of the favorite superheroes today was a rather obscure figure in the past, but because of Robert Downey Jr.’s acting, Iron Man has become familiar to nearly everyone. And at the beginning of this new wave of popularity, Iron Man, had a compelling story that is something of a modern myth about the nature of humankind. As flashy and powerful as Iron Man is, the suit is powered by high-tech engine that also keeps its owner’s real, human heart from dying. The engine keeps shrapnel in Tony Stark’s body away from his heart—keeping him alive—even as it powers his suit. But there’s a price to be paid for keeping the heart alive and keeping Iron Man powered. That is that the power source of the engine is also radioactive and is slowly destroying the pumping muscle that keeps human life going. Tony Stark is hoping to keep his heart going long enough to figure out a way to save himself before time is up. And this is where we might draw a parallel to the statement of Jesus that “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts” (v 21). That which is in our hearts is that which kills us—slowly poisoning us from the inside out. And while our sinful attitudes and desires may not be “radioactive,” they are still deadly as they also poison us over time. In our lesson, Jesus reminds us that human nature tends to focus on external sin rather than on internal sin.

We act like Pharisees in focusing on external sins of others rather than the sins from within ourselves. We see a married man holding hands in public with a woman twenty-five years younger, not his wife; we don’t see notice what happens in our hearts when we take in media that is at odds with God’s goodness. We may admire a woman flaunting her furs and jewelry; but we don’t squash the catty thoughts that cross our minds about how she thinks she’s so great. We are saddened by the story in the paper about the triple shooting; but we don’t see how being angry with someone at church is murder too. What is “under our skin” or inside of us is killing us.

Jesus pointed out the evil that lurks in our hearts that we may be able to hide from others (vv 14–15, 21–23). But we can’t hide the truth of our sinful hearts from God. So, if the thoughts, efforts, and strength that come from our hearts are always unclean and lead to our deaths, how can we be saved?

Salvation requires that something from completely outside us must come in to wash us clean on the inside. God looked into his heart, not ours, to devise a plan for our salvation. It wasn’t anything inside us that paid for our sins—no good, pure thoughts of the heart, no outward action that would please the strictest Pharisee. The God of heaven, infinitely above us, completely outside us, came to earth and paid the price: His Son’s precious life on the cross.

Instead of looking into oneself for good or for power to save, God says to look away from ourselves. We are commended to look to Jesus up there on the cross: His pure, undefiled, sinless heart broken, pierced through for our sinful hearts.

And then the Holy Spirit—also from the outside—comes into our sinful hearts and brings the cleansing of Jesus’ death. Jesus comes to us in the water of Baptism, which washes away our sins in a miraculous way. And Jesus speaks to us, not in a whisper from within (our sinful hearts could play all kinds of tricks with that!), but through God’s external Word—of preaching, of absolution, when we read the Bible—and he declares us pure, holy, forgiven. And while nothing outside a person and coming into him can defile us, taking into ourselves Jesus’ very body and blood in the Lord’s Supper does purify us. It brings forgiveness so real to us that we can taste it.

Through these Means of Grace—God’s Word and Sacraments—God creates faith in our hearts. That faith is totally from outside us too. And a heart of faith is a clean heart, purified from the sin within, and that heart receives eternal life.

It’s interesting that Jesus mentions the stomach in our lesson as the Pharisees seemed to be more concerned about what goes into the stomach that about what comes from the sinful heart. But Jesus corrects them in their judging of food that goes in and on the nasty stuff that goes out the other end. Jesus makes it absolutely clear that food is food and, yes, we all do number 2—but the heart is what He offers to wash clean and redeem us from the sin that lurks inside it. We rejoice that Jesus has given us the only way to cleanse our hearts though their washing in His Holy blood. May we all be blessed to have healthy hearts claimed by Christ. Amen.