Today's readings are Genesis 22.1-19 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+22.1-19 ) and Mark 7.1-23 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+7.1-23 ).
There are so many places we could go with today's reading! I suppose that's true of any day. But several are jumping out at me. I think the one I will land on will be the washings that Jesus talks about. Let's notice a few important issues Jesus brings up in Mark 7.
First, there are lots of different special washings. The words used here denote special ceremonial purifications, including "baptizing couches." The terminology isn't just that of getting something wet. Jesus uses the "baptizein" word, always used in the New Testament to denote a washing with ceremonial importance and effectiveness. For a sense of contrast, at the Last Supper, when Jesus dunks the piece of bread in the wine, he uses the word "baptein" which does not have that importance, but merely denotes dipping. But here the emphasis is on washings which do accomplish purification.
What does Jesus say about those washings, special offerings, special prayers? He says that they are nothing apart from faith. They are nothing when they are continued in disobedience to God's word. They are nothing when they are shown by disbelief to be things which don't matter.
God has given us concrete things to do. He has given us baptism, he has given us communion. These are mighty sacraments. They are effective. They have ceremonial importance and effectiveness. Yet through our disbelief, through our treating them as something common, through our assumption that they are something we do which is of only symbolic importance or of no importance at all, we defile them. We make them ineffective. We show that what comes out of a man is what defiles him. We bring forth unbelief and therefore are able to make the promise of God have no effect. Let it never be.
Do you doubt God's forgiving work? Look to your baptism. You have been washed, and it was not of yourself. It was of God's command, according to his promise. Do you doubt Christ's love for you? Approach the communion and realize Christ's words that his body and blood are given for you. This is the reality which our Lord has proclaimed. It is ours to receive it with thanksgiving and praise.
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