Mark 07

 

Breaking Human Traditions

1Now the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who came from Jerusalem gathered around him. 

 

At first, the Jewish leaders just observed Jesus. After they found out that Jesus was against them, they attempted to discredit him publicly in front of the people.

 

2And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders. 4And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.)

 

These hand-washing rituals was part of the man-made Oral Law. It was not part of the God-given Mosaic Law.

 

5The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?” 

 

The Jewish leaders taught that the Oral Law was even more divine than the written Law. They asked Jesus why he did not follow the Oral Law. 

 

6He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. He called the Jewish leaders “hypocrites.” Hypocrites were Greek actors who put on a mask and played a part in a play. Jesus accused the Jewish leaders of putting on a mask in front of the people and playing like they were righteous men.

 

Jesus quoted from Isaiah 29:13. Isaiah predicted that the Jewish people would honor God with their lips, but their hearts would be very far from him. Isaiah predicted that the people would worship God with an empty, ritualistic worship system. Instead of teaching the written Word of God, they would teach man-made commandments and call these teachings doctrines of God. Jesus accused these Jewish leaders of fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. Jesus quoted from the written Law to show that their Oral law was man-made. 

 

8Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.” 

 

The Pharisees held their Oral Law in higher esteem than the written Scriptures.

 

9He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition. 

 

The Pharisees used the Oral Law to negate the Written Law.

 

10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 

 

Jesus quoted from the written Law. Those who do not honor their parents would receive capital punishment.

 

11But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift for God), 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. 

 

If the parents needed financial help, then the written Law held the children responsible for assisting them. However, the Oral Law stated that a child did not have to assist their parents if they claimed that their gift was dedicated to God. The children could then keep the money or property in their own house, use it, and claim that they were using it for God. 

 

13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

 

The Oral Law was man-made. In this case, it was used to nullify the written Law. It relieved the children of assisting their aged parents.

 

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand. 

 

Jesus had a special message for the crowd.

 

15There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”

 

It is not what a person eats that defiles him. Washing or not-washing hands does not defile a person. What comes out of the soul is what defiles a man. Words, deeds, and thoughts come out of the soul of man.

 

16If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

 

This verse is not in the Westcott-Hort manuscripts, but it is found in the Textus Receptus manuscripts. Only those who are called by God can hear and understand divine information.

 

17Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 

 

The disciples did not understand the parable.

 

18He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? 

 

The Greek word for “foolish” is ἀσύνετος (asentetos), meaning unable to discern. Many English translations attempt to make Jesus a bully. This is a subtle attack on the character of Jesus. Jesus paraphrased to the disciples, “Are you unable to discern the meaning of this parable?” He was not being as harsh as many English translations make Him out to be.

 

19For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.” (This means all foods are clean.) 

 

There were some foods that God made unclean in order to keep the Israelites from the pagan Gentiles, especially the Canaanites. In Acts, God makes all foods clean.

 

20He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. 

 

It is not what goes in the mouth that defiles a person. It is what comes out of the mouth which defiles a person

 

21For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 23All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

 

The human heart is the personality of the individual. The individual feeds his personality (or soul) information from the satanic world system. This information defiles the personality, causing the person to think, speak, and act out evil. Only the Holy Spirit can change this evil condition. Only Bible doctrine can reverse the information of the satanic world system and restore the soul to a proper relationship with God.

 

A Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

24After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice. 

 

Tyre was the sister city of Sidon. It was a seaport city of Phoenician origin.

 

25Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet. 

 

Demon possession was common in the days of Jesus. Satan may have moved much of his demonic kingdom to Galilee in order to thwart the ministry of Jesus.

 

26The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 

 

The woman was a Gentile. Jews usually had nothing to do with Gentiles, unless they were a Jewish proselyte.

 

27He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.” 

 

The Gentiles were called dogs by the Jews. Jesus gave the Gentile woman a typical Jewish response. He did this to teach a lesson to his disciples, who would later be witnessing to Gentiles. 

 

28She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 

 

If dogs eat the crumbs of children, then the Messiah should also feed crumbs to the Gentiles.

 

29Then he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” 

 

The woman recognized Jesus as the Messiah, so Jesus healed her daughter from a far away distance.

 

30She went home and found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

 

When the Gentile woman returned home, the demon was gone. She most likely spread this information to other Gentiles in the Tyre and Sidon seaport region. By the Tyre shipping industry, this information could have spread to many other Gentile nations.

 

Healing a Deaf Mute

31Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. 

 

The Decapolis were ten Greek-speaking cities located in Gentile territory.

 

32They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 

 

Rabbis would exorcise demons by asking them their name. If the man was deaf, then the rabbi could not ask the demon his name. Therefore, the rabbi could not cast out the demon. The rabbi taught the people that only the Messiah could cast out a demon of a deaf man.

 

33After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. 

 

Jesus took the deaf man away from the crowd. He used sign language to let the man know what he was going to do.

 

34Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). 

 

Jesus spoke Aramaic with the man, meaning he may not have been a Gentile. “Ephphatha” was a simple Aramaic word, so the deaf man may have been able to read the lips of Jesus. 

 

35And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 

 

Since Jesus proved to the rabbi that He had the power to exorcise a demon from a deaf man, then they should have worshipped Him as the Messiah.

 

36Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. 

 

 

Jesus told everyone to stay quiet, but they spread the news. This caused more people to flock to Jesus for the sake of magical entertainment.

 

37People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

 

The people recognized that Jesus fit the messianic identification model that the rabbis were teaching them.