What's In Your Bucket?

“It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.”  Mark 7:16

“What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”  A pastor friend of mine used this saying often in sermons, and he’ll be happy to know that it stuck.  Today’s generation might need the phrase explained, but to those of us who have timidly or curiously stared into a deep, dark well while winding the hanging rope round and round, it makes perfect sense.  (I can still hear my grandmother admonishing me not to stand too close to the edge and to be careful that the spinning handle not knock me down!)  

The amazing thing about her well, which was dug close to the crabapple tree in the side yard, was that no matter how many times I lowered the metal bucket into the abyss, it always only brought up cool, clear water.  It never brought up Kool-Aid.  Never brought up milk.  Never brought up tea.  Always only water.  “What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”  

My grandmother’s well was nothing fancy—just a hole in the ground with no a built-up sides (hence the constant warning not to get too close), but what was outside had no effect on what was inside.  We could have built a beautiful stone wall and a fancy roof for the well-house.  We could have purchased a new shiny bucket and a colorful nylon rope.  We could have planted flowers around the edges and made a bench to rest on nearby, but no external adornment would have altered the internal substance.  It was a well, and all that could come up was what was already down.  If the water below was bad, nothing we did above would make a bit of difference.

But, oh, how we try.  Not in our wells, but in our lives.  We decorate deception with explanations.  We write off envy with excuses.  We justify bitterness with reasons.  We whitewash anger, polish pride, and embellish lust.  We try so hard to make things look good on the outside, but on the inside, deep in the well of our hearts, we allow these unholy things to remain, and undoubtedly, eventually they will come up.  “What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”

Jesus said the same thing.  The Pharisees were pointing fingers by pointing out that His disciples didn’t wash their hands according to custom and, therefore, considered this evidence of His evil and theirs.  But Jesus informed His accusers and the crowd gathered round that “nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him.  Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean”(Mk 7:16). “What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”

“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean”(Mk 7:23).  The Pharisees dutifully and devotedly followed an elaborate ritual of washing their hands (and their cups, pitchers, and kettles) before they ate, for they believed this proved their Godliness and goodness, but Jesus stripped away this façade by the truth that if our only good is on the outside, it’s not nearly good enough.

What we do matters, but why we do it matters more. If we are God’s, He has filled our hearts with His light and life, but as long as we’re on this side of forever, we must fight constant contamination.  We do this by listening to His Spirit and obeying His Word. Confession keeps our hearts clean, so let’s be quick to repent of any attitude or actions that pollutes our souls.  Let’s let our goodness on the outside be the pure and perfect result of the righteousness of Christ He has placed by grace on the inside.  And let’s make sure our love is marked not by show but by sincerity.

What’s in the well comes up in the bucket, and when God’s is all that’s inside, it’ll all be good.