Mark 7:1-23
Right Practice or Heart – Mk 7:1-23
Traditions can play an important role in our lives, for both good and bad. Jesus, in no uncertain terms, has let the disciples know He is Jehovah but following Him is going to be untraditional.
1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, 2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” (NASB®)
1. What was the Pharisees and scribes problem?
After hundreds of years of constructing rules to help prevent the people from breaking God’s law, this group from the religious establishment blamed Jesus that His disciples refused to conform to their imposed rituals.
Is pleasing God about keeping rules?
Do I impose my idea of obedience on others?
6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 7 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER’; and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.” (NASB®)
2. How did Jesus view the problem?
Jesus simply reminds them that the Scripture they purport to be obeying predicts their two-faced behavior. Their actions may appear religious but they are empty of any true devotion. They are so self-obsessed that the only thing they have become devout to is placing themselves and their ceremony before God. They have become so skilled, that they arrange spiritual loopholes that promote disobedience.
Am I self obsessed?
Is my faith genuine?
Is obedience more important than sacrifice?
14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”] (NASB®)
3. What did Jesus teach on purity?
Harmful traditions entrap people so Jesus calls the crowd to Himself and urges them to pay attention to the fact that it’s not what goes in you but what comes out that’s the problem.
Do I think I could ever be good enough to please God?
Do I recognize the impurity within myself?
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. 18 And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) 20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (NASB®)
4. Where does evil come from?
The disciples too, grew up enslaved by these rituals and so require some clarification. Jesus challenges them to think it through. No matter how you wash, or what you eat, once consumed it merely passes through without spiritual consequence. What truly separates us from God, is what is initiated at the core of who we are. The desire to be disobedient, sexually immoral, steal, kill, greedy, malicious, fraudulent, promiscuous, jealous, blaspheme, arrogant and thoughtlessly indiscreet, all this wickedness emanates from inside us and separates us from a Holy, Loving God.
Do I accept that the problem with evil is me?
Am I willing to change my heart?