Mark 7:1-23
We see a shift this morning from the miracles that Mark has placed great emphasis on, as Jesus is confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus uses their confrontation to reveal some things about them, and in turn about the nature of humanity across the board.
Mark 7:1-5
1.. The Accusation (1-5)
1.. How Dare You (1-5)
It seems at first like a really silly childish accusation. “Jesus, your disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate!” Kids, do you hear your parents ask you to wash your hands before eating? There was something deeper going on, which Mark fortunately reveals for us. The Pharisees were upset because there was a common practice of cleansing that was required if you were a Jew. Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about shaking the dust off of the feet, to remove any “tainted” dirt from Gentile lands? This is the same concept. The purification was a removal of anything foreign that might have come in contact with their hands. It was a spiritual cleansing that went deeper than dirt and water.
In fact, in a Jewish book of oral traditions called the Mishnah, there are 35 pages devoted to washing different “vessels and daily used items.” (Kids, can you imagine a 35 page book ALL about what you have to wash every day?) So what the Pharisees were concerned about was not dirty hands, but a breaking of oral tradition that had become to them as Jewish law. The problem was that over the years, the Pharisees had taken the Law and added more than what was originally there. This is evidenced in their response in verse 5, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders?” Not the Law. Not the Scriptures. But the traditions of men. Jesus is going to use this moment to reveal much about the state of religion at that time.
2.. Hypocrisy Revealed (6-13)
2.. Liar Liar Pants on Fire (6-13)
Mark 7:6-13
Jesus brings to mind a Scripture out of Isaiah 29 that the Pharisees would have been familiar with. Only, they never would have thought that it would be used against them. Jesus doesn’t even address the lack of ceremonial hand cleansing. He just goes straight to the heart of the matter. “You hypocrites! You claim this level of righteousness, and have become “model citizens” because of your perceived religious standards, but you are lying to everyone. Worst of all, you are lying to yourselves!”
They make empty claims with their lips, empty because their hearts are far from God. And the idea of the heart implies the very depth of their being. Who they are, intrinsically, is far from God. I mean can you imagine the fire welling up inside these Pharisees?! And He keeps going! Your worship? Meaningless. It’s all done in vanity. Your teaching? A departure from the truth of the Scriptures. The primary leaders of the religious system, and Jesus is calling them out as frauds!
And then Jesus is like, “alright, let me give you an example. Kids, does anyone know what the 5th commandment is? You guys believe in the 5th commandment right? Honor your father and mother? And you believe the Scriptures when they say ‘whoever reviles father or mother must surely die?’ How is it then, that you have created this tradition called “Corban” that gives justification for breaking the commandments of Moses?”
What is Corban? One commentary says that “Corban is a word that described something to be offered to God or given to the sacred treasury in the temple. If something was “Corban,” it was dedicated and set apart for God’s use.” This is a great concept, however, it had become a way for people to avoid the responsibilities that they had in taking care of their parents. It had become a corrupt idea, because people would set aside money for the temple, therefore they could tell their parents, “sorry, I can’t help you, that money has been set aside,” BUT, oftentimes it wouldn’t be given to the temple, but kept for personal use.
So the Pharisees were teaching a tradition called “Corban” that allowed for someone to break the commandment that required them to honor father and mother by taking care of their needs. Tradition over Law. “Therefore,” Jesus says, “you have also made the Scriptures void. You have invalidated them by your traditions.” I mean what Jesus is saying to these guys is unbelievable. And then he transitions into a public explanation of this challenge to the Scribes and Pharisees. There are other people listening in, and they need to understand what Jesus is saying.
3.. Public Explanation (14-16)
3.. Jesus Teaches the Crowd
Mark 7:14-16
Jesus is like, “alright, everyone come here, I need to tell you something.” And then once He gets them close, He makes this really cryptic but specific statement. There are strict rules on what you can eat, and what you can’t eat. But let me just tell you something, it doesn’t matter. Food will not corrupt you! No, listen, it’s what comes out of you that corrupts you.”
Kind of a strange thing that Jesus seems to focus specifically on food here as a proof of His revolutionary teaching. Kids, what’s your favorite food to eat? What’s like, the worst food to eat?
Now unfortunately for the crowds, Jesus just stops there. I mean you can imagine them leaning in. Everything they had been taught their whole lives, what you eat, what you wear, what you touch, those things are what cause you to sin. If you don’t follow these rules, then you are a sinner! And now Jesus is flipping everything on it’s head, but He gives them no explanation. I mean just imagine leaning in to listen, and Jesus makes this cryptic statement, and then seemingly leaves with His disciples with no explanation.
You may have noticed that in some translations there is no verse 16. The verse reads, “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” The reason it is omitted is because it was not found in the original manuscripts, but was added sometime later. It doesn’t change our text for this morning, so let’s get to the last section here.
4.. Private Explanation (17-23)
4.. Jesus Teaches the Disciples
Mark 7:17-23
Like the crowds, His disciples don’t understand. “Alright Jesus, give it to us straight. What did you mean by that?” What you eat will go in, and go out. It doesn’t stop in your heart. It doesn’t affect your core nature. In and out. Interesting parenthetical here about declaring all food clean.
But then Jesus continues. And He finally gets to the main point. He calls out the Pharisees for their ridiculous man-made traditions that have become more important than Scripture itself. He proves that to them. He alludes to the truth in public, and now with His disciples present in someone’s home, He explains it all. And it is a very simple explanation.
All of the traditions. All of the laws. All of the requirements. All of that pales in comparison to the deeper issue. What matters most is the matter of the heart. We have to start with what’s on the inside. The heart determines everything. And here is the sad state of the human heart:
Romans 3:10-18 - None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
And Jesus hits the proverbial hornet’s nest of evil of the heart, and what comes out: “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
This is the sad nature of every human being who has ever and will ever exist. We are born with hearts that are bent towards evil. Our lives are defiled by sin.
And Jesus so desperately wants everyone to know this! It isn’t about the Law anymore! It definitely isn’t about the man-made traditions that have enslaved your mind towards false righteousness. It isn’t about what you eat, what you wear, what you touch. It is a heart issue. The heart is plagued, and that’s where change MUST occur.
And the good news for us this morning? Jesus came to give us new hearts, hearts that are bent towards Him.
Ezekiel 36:26 - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Remember, Jesus came to bring about something NEW. It was revolutionary then, and it is revolutionary today.
Application:
We can take our application of this text so many different ways, but I want to just give us 2 this morning.
1.. Do we honor Jesus with our lips, but fail to honor Him with our lives?
Jesus says of the Pharisees, “they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” One pastor modernized this, and I think it’s a good point of reflection, could Jesus say of us:
They attend church, but their heart is far from Me.
They read their Bible, but their heart is far from Me.
They pray eloquently, but their heart is far from Me.
They contribute money, but their heart is far from Me.
They do ministry, but their heart is far from Me.
They love to sing, but their heart is far from Me.
They talk to others about Jesus, but their heart is far from Me
The point is this. Are we just going through the spiritual motions because it’s what we were taught to do? Do we think that doing these things is what makes us any more spiritual than the next person? OR
2.. Have we been given a new heart?
Romans 3:23 - “For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Every single human being in history is born a sinner. We are born with hearts defiled by sin. The sad reality of this comes in the fact that…
Romans 6:23 - “The wages of sin is death.” Our sin, the evil in our hearts, will lead us into death. The payment that we must pay for our sin is death. It will carry us into an eternity without God.
BUT. Romans 6:23 continues, “BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus sees our heart. He saw our destiny if no one stepped in to help us. He came to this Earth, lived for 33 years, and died on a cross. Why? Because the payment of our sin is death, UNLESS, someone else who is perfect dies in our place.
Romans 5:8 - “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s what Jesus did. And NOW, because of that, we have an opportunity for our hearts to be made new.
Romans 10:9 - “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This is my prayer every single week, that no one walks out of here without confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing in His death and resurrection. It’s at that moment that you are given a new heart, one that is continually transformed to cause you to live more like Jesus, and less like ourselves. And this is my prayer this morning.
