Mark 7

The Pharisees were experts in the washing traditions that had been handed down through rabbis over the centuries. Working from a foundation of certain biblical concepts of priestly and sacrificial rituals and certain Levitical rules concerning ceremonial uncleanness, the methods of purification that they taught and followed had expanded these to include many things that had no real basis in the Bible. They considered these washing traditions to be a very important part of a holy life. The point of their customs seemed to be especially about the dirtiness of the Gentile world, and that one could not be too careful about being ritually clean, since there was much that was unclean about the outside world.

Some of the Pharisees noticed that the disciples of Jesus were not entirely following these rituals, and they expressed concern about this to the Lord. Jesus first answered them from the prophet Isaiah, noting the difference between lips that claim to love God and lives that display a different desire of the soul. Like many, they were following the commandments of men as if they were the Law of God, but they were putting aside the Law of God and justifying it according to their traditions. The example that He gave to them that day came from the fifth commandment, "Honor your father and your mother." Jesus indicates here that this commandment is rightly understood to include a continuing responsibility to elderly parents in need. But the Pharisees followed a tradition known as "Corban," a Hebrew word used especially in Leviticus and Numbers meaning "offering." This tradition allowed a person to elude his God-given responsibility to parents by dedicating his possessions outwardly to God, yet still retaining the use of his goods and his riches for himself. Jesus said to them, "Many such things you do."

Then He made a sweeping and shocking statement that showed His authority not only to critique the traditions of the elders that were outside of the Bible, but also to bring to a fulfillment and conclusion the ceremonial law that was in the Bible itself. Returning to their original issue of clean and unclean, He insists on the root point of these laws not being simply about what is unclean outside of us, but much more about the deep problem of sin that is inside of us. He overturns the external rules of the Old Covenant, by getting to the heart of the deeper issue of what really makes a person unclean before God. It is the things that come out of us that make us unclean, not the things that we eat that go into us. To His disciples He further explained this point that our violation of our duties to God and man come from the depravity of our defiled hearts, and are ultimately expressed in various sinful ways of life. This is a much bigger problem than whether we are doing the correct ceremonial washing.

From that place, He arose and went again into Gentile territory. He was sought after by a woman whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit. He seemed at first to deny her request for healing on the basis that she was a Gentile, unclean, even a dog, and not one of the children of Israel around the table of God. This sounded like the reasoning that the Pharisees might have used in such a situation. The woman responded by accepting the metaphor of children and dogs, and agreeing concerning her spot as one who did not deserve to be at Yahweh's table. But she further insisted that a dog that could have a crumb that fell from such a glorious table would have all that was necessary. Through this interchange, he brought forward a delightful expression of Gentile faith in a Jewish Messiah, and her daughter was delivered from this horrible demonic attack. Jesus was not denying the primacy of the Jews in God's plan. Yet for Him, and for the Old Testament, that was not the end of the story. God would bring His mercy to the world through the One who could cast out bad angels from a little girl's life at a distance.

Going on to another place, our Lord performs a miracle upon a man who had great problems with hearing and speech. Earlier the Lord quoted Isaiah 29:13, "This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men." Now He is fulfilling the deeds of the Messiah that Isaiah proclaimed in the following verses of that same chapter, "In that day the deaf shall hear."

He did not do great things out of heart of insecurity demanding the opportunity to impress people. He hated hypocrisy and spoke against it forthrightly, even when doing so meant trouble with people everyone knew to be the representatives of important and influential men. He did not allow Himself to be swayed by any of that in the least. When He could have easily swayed a crowd with the spectacular, He gave hearing and speech to a man almost privately. He was not trying to impress anyone, but seemed to be genuinely connecting with the needs of the person who was with him at that moment, hoping to be able to help him without making a fuss about it all. Of course, whether it is your intention or not, you will make a fuss if you start doing miracles today, however discretely, that are properly part of a coming resurrection age.

One final word on the verses that follow in Isaiah 29: We read in verses 22-24, "Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: 'Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.' " This great Man Jesus went to the cross for God's elect, many of whom were definitely going astray. They were murmuring against Him, but they would one day accept His instruction. If the salvation of the Jews was all about which of them would stay with the Messiah to the very end, no one could have been saved from the descendants of Jacob. Our salvation is about God's strength and not about ours. He is the One who can give the man who appears to be deaf ears to hear. He is the only one who can heal unclean hearts, and grant fresh joy to those whom He has made meek.