Mark 7 - Sometimes the Crumbs Are Worth Waiting For!
Mark 7 - NIV
That Which Defiles
7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a]) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
The Pharisees were now on full alert. If Jesus continued to attract such big crowds, how would it affect them. I am sure they had already heard reports from the synagogues of Jesus' teaching, and his following among the Gentiles. How would they knock him down a notch? Surely they could find a chink in his armor somewhere. So, they decided to attack Jesus on what they knew best, "the Law".
If they could somehow prove Jesus and/or his disciples were breaking the Law, they might be able to discredit him and his disciples. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law added many of their own laws to the Torah, the Law of Moses. Jesus would address this later. For now they accused the disciples of eating with unwashed hands.
But eat bread with unwashed hands: The religious leaders meant elaborate ceremonial washings, not washing for the sake of cleanliness. The observant Jews of that time strictly observed a rigid and extensive ritual for washing before meals. (Guzik)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[d] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[e] 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Instead of answering their question, Jesus cited Isaiah 29:13, where the prophets spoke against the Jews because though they worshipped God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. They had turned the Law of Moses into something they could manipulate. Because their teaching had nothing with the real intent of the Law, subsequently their worship was artificial and fake. They were taking the Lord's name in vain.
They even used God's Law for their own selfish ends. They failed to honor their fathers and mothers using the rationalization they were giving to God instead. By making God's Word mean what they wanted it to mean, they reduced God's Holy Word to a human rulebook, which had no power.
It is interesting that the modern liberal movement in the church over the past 50 years has done the same thing. In the 70's proponent of the liberal gospel cut out all of the miracles in the bible because they didn't believe in the supernatural. To take the supernatural out of the bible is to take God out of the bible. After all, how did Jesus rise from the dead after three days.
We also see scripture has been used to justify the LGBTQ movement. The clear teaching of the bible is that God's intention for marriage and sexual relationships is within the context of marriage between a man and a woman. They claim the bible knew nothing of the modern day committed same-sex relationship. They argue homosexuality would have been accepted by Jesus if it existed in his day because of our modern day understanding of it.
But we know there is nothing new under the sun. The fact is the bible talks about homosexual relationships in both the Old and New Testament and it is never positive. There is no positive proscription for it. If God meant to endorse same sex marriage if they are committed, don't you think he would have mentioned it once in the 66 books of the bible.
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16] [f] 17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Jesus makes an extremely valuable distinction. It is not what goes into a person which makes them unholy, but what comes out of them. He describes the biological process of food as it goes through the body. There is nothing that happens in this process to the spiritual condition of a man. In this sense he declared all foods clean.
It was what came out of a man which made him unclean. He gives a list of things that come out of a person's heart, which coincidentally are all related to the Ten Commandments in one way or another. Jesus didn't come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. The Ten Commandments are holy and just but it is not just the letter of the Law but the Spirit of the Law. Jesus explains this thoroughly in Matthew 6 in his Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
What is significant about this miracle of healing is that the woman who asks him to deliver her daughter from a demon was Syrophoenician. Jesus originally seemed to reject her request, but the woman showed great faith by the way she answered Jesus. Jesus used the analogy of first giving bread to the children (the Jews) and then letting the Gentiles eat the crumbs from the table like the dogs.
It seems pretty harsh for him to say this, although the Gentiles were known as "dirty dogs".
In that day, Jews often called Gentiles “dogs” in a very derogatory way. “To the Greek, the word dog meant a shameless and audacious woman; it was used exactly with the connotation that we use the word bitch to-day. To the Jews it was equally a term of contempt.” (Barclay)
ii. Yet Jesus did not use the normal word for “dogs.” Instead He softened it into little dogs – essentially, reminding the woman of her place as a Gentile, yet not wanting to push her completely away. “In Greek, diminutives are characteristically affectionate. Jesus took the sting out of the word.” (Barclay)
As we see so often Jesus rewards those who come to him by faith. This woman took a huge risk in approaching Jesus and her faith was willing to take any little morsel Jesus would give her. In this case her faith prompted Jesus to deliver her daughter from her demon.
Are you this bold in your prayers? Do you implore God to act on your behalf in Jesus' name? Sometimes we are half-hearted in our prayers not truly expecting Jesus to answer them.
Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.[h] 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
This is yet another example of a person's friends bringing them to Jesus. The man was deaf and mute so someone needed to communicate for him. They begged Jesus to heal the man, which shows their love for him. As we have said before, Jesus used all kinds of different methods to heal. In this case he used an unusual one.
Perhaps this is why Jesus took the man away from the crowds. In this example Jesus not only laid hands on him, but put his fingers directly into the area that needed healing. He put his fingers in the man's ears and touched his tongue. He looked up to heaven to His heavenly Father and commanded the ears and tongue to be opened. Immediately the man could speak and hear. Jesus touched the place that needed healing with his hands, and then commanded it to be opened with his mouth.
Jesus tried to get the people to stay quiet about this, but the more he pressed them, the more they kept talking about it. After seeing something like this there was no way they could keep quiet!
We see again the importance of Jesus' healing ministry. And lest we think only Jesus can do this, Jesus sent his disciples to do the same things he did. He has given us His Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Jesus. I think part of it is why don't want to pray for people in case they didn't get healed.
John Wimber, who started the Vineyard Christian Fellowship movement said, "When we prayed for everyone some got healed. When we prayed for no one, no one got healed!"
I have never ever hesitated to pray for someone for physical healing. Though I have never seen anyone instantly healed, I have seen healed of many kinds of ailments.
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