A community must have laws that define boundaries to our behavior toward each other. And the leaders of the community, and the community as a whole, are free to, and ought to, enact such laws so that we can live together in peace. But the Laws that speak about my relationship with God, can only be made by God.

Mark 7:1-5 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes, coming from Jerusalem, are gathered together to him (Jesus), and seeing some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, (for the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands diligently, do not eat, holding what has been delivered by the ancients; and [on coming] from the market-place, unless they are washed, they do not eat; and there are many other things which they have received to hold, the washing of cups and vessels, and brazen utensils, and couches), then the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why do thy disciples not walk according to what has been delivered by the ancients, but eat the bread with defiled hands?

The Pharisees complain about the behavior of Jesus’ disciples: that they did not wash their hands before eating. I think that is interesting… Do you think Jesus washed His hands, but the disciples did not? Or do you think this is just the bully’s cowardice showing: They will berate the disciples, but Jesus is too “powerful” at this point for them to risk challenging Him directly.

Whatever is going on, Mark goes ahead and explains to the readers the “technical” background behind the Pharisees’ complaint.

Now, it turns out that, today, the customs espoused by the Pharisees seem actually prudent… in light of what we know about the risk of food contamination and the transmission of disease. However, we need to keep in mind the time at which this scene is unfolding before us: we need to remember what those people knew, and what the motivation behind the complaint may be.

Jesus’ strong (even harsh) reply tells us there is no good motive behind their complaint:

Mark 7:6-8 But he answering said to them, Well did Esaias prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching [as their] teachings commandments of men. [For], leaving the commandment of God, ye hold what is delivered by men [to keep]—washings of vessels and cups, and many other such like things ye do.

So, what is going on? Were these real laws they were talking about?

We can check the Old Testament and find all sorts of God-mandated Laws regarding washing and purification. We find that most of them are associated with the service in the Temple; and it is easy to see that they serve there a symbolic function where physical washing is providing a picture of spiritual cleansing in the face of holiness. For instance, Aaron and his sons (the priests) had to wash before entering the Tabernacle.

All such rituals were meant to fix in the mind of the people the difference between the uncleanness of our fallen world (and our actions when they are in accord with the principles of that world) and the perfect holiness of God.

There were also a few rules in the Law of Moses that we recognize had clear hygienic reasons and disease prevention functions…

But we know from the Talmud and other sources that, over the years, the Pharisees and other religious leaders added thousands of additional laws in order to create what they called a “fence” around the Mosaic law. In other words, they went overboard to make absolutely sure that none of the Laws God instituted would be broken… A fence, hedges, extra obstacles on the way… for our benefit.

What’s wrong with that? Sounds like a noble endeavor, doesn’t it?

But there is a problem with that. And we see it the minute we ask the following question:

“If I break Law 753, whom am I sinning against?”

You see, if I willingly break one of God’s Laws, then I have sinned against God. He is the Law Giver and He is the Judge of the whole Earth. BUT if I break a law invented by a man, why should I be guilty? That man is not God? Who made him Judge? Who gave him the right to make that law?

You see what happens… If I get to create binding laws that you must obey then I have put myself in the place of God before you. I determine whether you are holy and clean… not just God.

Now, clearly this danger just applies to religious laws. The community must have laws to govern our behavior toward each other as people. And the leaders of the community, and the community as a whole, are free to, and ought to, enact such laws so that we can live together in peace.

But Laws that speak about my relationship with God, can only be made by God.

This is the problem Jesus is now addressing. The Pharisees and scribes benefitted from their law-making power. It gave them authority. Not that they would come out and say it but… notice how they say it sideways: They accused the disciples of not following what was delivered by the ancients… But they of course do; therefore, they carry forward the authority of those ancients.

And they routinely threw around the weight of that authority, made sure people recognized them, honored them, like expecting the most important seats at a banquet.

It worked. They had the people pinned, as it were, under their thumbs and, for this, Jesus once berated them: telling them that they pushed all those laws on the people and never lifted a finger to help carry them out.

So, Jesus is going to take the question they asked and use it as a segue to answer a different one. (Something we have seen Jesus do many times).He is going to address this affront (of supplanting God) and to do that He chooses something much worse than what they are accusing his disciples of doing.

Mark 7:9-13 And he said to them, Well do ye set aside the commandment of God, that ye may observe what is delivered by yourselves [to keep]. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, he who speaks ill of father or mother, let him surely die. But *ye* say, If a man say to his father or his mother, [It is] corban (that is, gift), whatsoever thou mightest have profit from me by … And ye no longer suffer him to do anything for his father or his mother; making void the word of God by your traditional teaching which ye have delivered; and many such like things ye do.

“Corban” means a gift dedicated to God. So, what the practice had become was that adult children who did not want to support their parents would just claim that they had dedicated, committed, their property, their goods, to the Temple; to be actually given into the Temple’s treasury at their death. But in the meantime, they got to benefit from that property. However, having transferred the “ownership” to God, they could not take any of it away to give to any other cause (including their parents).

That same kind of twisted logic (loophole) was used to avoid having to pay creditors.

And if that were not bad enough (defeating God’s real intent of the Law to Honor the parents), guess who benefitted from any property given to the Temple? Yep, the Pharisees.

Facing the real authority

Having exposed the sham of the Pharisees’ self-proclaimed authority, Jesus turns to the people and tries to get them to understand how God’s authority in their lives really works.

Mark 7:14-16 And having called again the crowd, he said to them, Hear me, all [of you], and understand: There is nothing from outside a man entering into him which can defile him; but the things which go out from him, those it is which defile the man. If any one have ears to hear, let him hear.

Any time Jesus ends a lesson with that phrase is an open invitation for us to ask: to demonstrate that we really want to know what He has to say; that we are willing to work to believe it, and then to live it.

Mark 7:17-19 And when he went indoors from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he says to them, Are *ye* also thus unintelligent? Do ye not perceive that all that is outside entering into the man cannot defile him, because it does not enter into his heart but into his belly, and goes out into the draught, purging all meats?

Mark 7:20-23 And he said, That which goes forth out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit, licentiousness, a wicked eye, injurious language, haughtiness, folly; all these wicked things go forth from within and defile the man.

What makes me unclean, defiled?

I make me unclean and defiled.

I get to choose.

You get to choose.

Jesus’ standard is at once utterly stern and utterly freeing.

First, the Good News is that to get right with God I don’t have to obey your rules or anyone else’s rules. And believe me, you and I know that there are plenty of people out there that want us to obey their rules, that will even tell us that it is God’s will that we behave the way they want us to behave. They’ll be more than glad to tell us how to live our lives, usually so that we can serve them and make them feel as powerful as they think they are.

But there is only One God, only One Law Giver, only One Judge. No one else has a right to judge me. No one else can because no one else can see my heart. That is the Good News.

There is a second part to the Good News, the hard part (at least hard for our flesh, our worldly inclinations); and that is: accepting that we are living this life in a “court room” that we cannot leave…

The very fact that my life choices are nobody else’s business reminds me that those choices are absolutely, completely, and compellingly my business.

I must deal with my life.

I must address the question of whether or not it aligns with God’s Law, God’s intention, God’s design.

Similarly, the fact that no one else can see into my heart to judge me, reminds me that my heart is totally, transparently, open before God: the only One that can read all of humanity’s hearts. Therefore, in this court room scene, there is no chance for misunderstanding, no chance that the prosecution will call a witness that will lie on that stand, and also no room for excuses because, to every crime, to every allegation, there will be one unimpeachable witness… namely, me.

I must deal with my life, right now.

By pointing out that I am the source of the evil that will condemn me, even pointing out the corrupting power on others that that, my personal evil, has, Jesus has made clear that I stand “naked” before the Judge of all the Earth… at all times. His judgment isn’t something that is coming at the end of days, not even coming at the end of my life. It is happening right now, every day.

This is perfectly consistent with what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: What matters is how I live my life in the present: Do I choose to live in the Kingdom of Heaven (at whatever the cost), or do I choose to serve the gods of this world? That choice is made up of all the individual choices we make every minute of every day as we share this world with the rest of God’s children. Do we Love God and our neighbor each of those minutes?

This viewpoint is also consistent with the parable of the final Judgment when the King separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). On that day, my life will be judged on how I lived its days: did I live in love or in selfishness?

It is up to me to deal with my life.

There is something truly radical about this viewpoint, especially coming out of the mouth of a Jewish Rabbi. In the other gospels we find the disciples telling Jesus that His reply offended the Pharisees.

Do you think they were offended because they did not understand the real meaning of what Jesus said about what “comes out of man”? Sure, some could have been as “unintelligent” as the disciples seemed… but I have to believe that there were some there that were wise enough, old enough, experienced enough to understand that when Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life“, it also states the opposite by negation: If I don’t guard my heart it will spew out death. For as Proverbs 18:21 says: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits“. Or: Proverbs 12:18: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing“.

If Jesus’ meaning was plain to those Pharisees who understood this Truth – that true evil comes from the heart – why would they be offended?

One reason might be that it points out that there is no external show of “holiness” that can prove that a man is righteous. Then all the effort the Pharisees spent at showing off their righteousness was, by definition, wasted. It proved nothing. And to the naturally cynic among us, it actually pointed out the opposite… Our natural reaction is: “This must all be camouflage trying to hide the rottenness within.”

But there is another more momentous reason for them to be offended. If evil resides in the heart where no one can see it, then God’s forgiveness of that evil must also occur within the heart… where no one can see it… If this is so, do we need any external ritual to prove or effect this redemption? No. Why would we? And if all such external ritual is unnecessary – or worse – actually counterproductive because it can be co-opted by those who would want to hold that power (of forgiveness) over us… then what do we need the Temple for?

If I can get right with God right here, right now, by repenting and believing in His chosen way of redemption, then the Temple with all its sacrifices is no longer needed.

That is momentous. That is a scandal. And I believe, as N. T. Wright has taught, that that was at the core of the virulent enmity that the Pharisees felt against Jesus. He was threatening not only their Temple-derived livelihood, but also the very identity of the nation of Israel as the people favored by God, among whom God had chosen to dwell.

Maybe to emphasize that the choice to bow to God’s authority has nothing to do with who you are, or where you grew up, Jesus now travels to the northwestern edge of Galilee.

The Gentiles get it…

Mark 7:24-26 And he rose up and went away thence into the borders of Tyre and Sidon; and having entered into a house he would not have any one know [it], and he could not be hid. But immediately a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell at his feet  (and the woman was a Greek, Syrophenician by race), and asked him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.

From the other gospels we get a clearer picture of Jesus’ attitude throughout all this episode in HIs life. Here in Mark, we get a slight hint of it when Mark tells us that it was Jesus who chose to walk along the border of Tyre and Sidon. In other words, the fact that this woman showed up was no surprise to Jesus.

From the other gospels we know that she called to him from afar using the formula she had heard was sure to work … “Son of David, have mercy on me!” As Matthew tells us:

Matthew 15:21-26 And Jesus, going forth from thence, went away into the parts of Tyre and Sidon; and lo, a Canaanitish woman, coming out from those borders, cried [to him] saying, Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.

But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came to [him] and asked him, saying, Dismiss her, for she cries after us. But he answering said, I have not been sent except to the lost sheep of Israel’s house.

But she came and did him homage, saying, Lord, help me.

But he answering said, It is not well to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dogs.

There, from Matthew’s gospel, we see that the disciples reacted when they saw Jesus doing nothing. The woman was embarrassing them. So, they ask Him to send her away. Whether they were asking Him to cast the demon out so she wouldn’t bother them anymore or just to tell her to go away, we are not told. But the way Jesus replies is characteristic: He doesn’t answer their request. Instead, He tells them: “You know, I am only here to help the Jews.”

That disconnect should have been enough to make them pause and think… “Wait a minute, what are you saying, Jesus? Why are you saying that? What about the Roman centurion’s servant? What about the Gentile man in the Decapolis possessed by a legion of demons? That’s not true… otherwise, why are we even walking along the border of Tyre and Sidon?”

We already know that every time Jesus replies to a question or a request “sideways” he is trying to get the listener to think, and to decide what they really know, what they really believe, what they really want. He was hoping His disciples would get it. There is no record of the disciples “getting it” here but the woman does not relent (and, surely, she saw the disciples’ disapproving looks.)

She kneels before Jesus, giving Him homage and asks again. And now Jesus answers her “sideways”.

Mark 7:27-28 But [Jesus] said to her, Suffer the children to be first filled; for it is not right to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. But she answered and says to him, Yea, Lord; for even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.

He answers her sideways, and without missing a beat she replies from the conviction of her heart

Mark 7:29-30 And he said to her, Because of this word, go thy way, the demon is gone out of thy daughter. And having gone away to her house she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Continuing the proof that Faith is not the exclusive province of the children of Israel, Jesus now travels to the opposite edge of Galilee, the south-eastern corner:

Mark 7:31-35 And again having left the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring to him a deaf [man] who could not speak right, and they beseech him that he might lay his hand on him. And having taken him away from the crowd apart, he put his fingers to his ears; and having spit, he touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven he groaned, and says to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue was loosed and he spoke right.

Those Gentiles responded to the presence of Jesus with as much zeal as the people of Israel. They had heard the stories, and they acted accordingly

Mark 7:36-37 And he charged them that they should speak to no one [of it]. But so much the more *he* charged them, so much the more abundantly *they* proclaimed it; and they were astonished above measure, saying, He does all things well; he makes both the deaf to hear, and the speechless to speak.

This tour into the Gentile borders is not over. It continues in chapter 8. Jesus and his disciples are still in the Decapolis, which is predominantly Gentile territory.  From Matthew 15 we know Jesus was healing a large crowd of people there and then…

Mark 8:1-3 In those days, there being again a great crowd, and they having nothing that they could eat, having called his disciples to [him], he says to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have stayed with me already three days and they have not anything they can eat, and if I should dismiss them to their home fasting, they will faint on the way; for some of them are come from far.

This times the disciple speak up before he does, asking (we hope) a rhetorical question:

Mark 8:4 And his disciples answered him, Whence shall one be able to satisfy these with bread here in a desert place?

I wonder what would have happened if they had volunteered to do the miracle themselves? But that is not what happened, they did not yet have enough Faith. But it did not bother Jesus. At least they knew Whom to turn to:

Mark 8:5-9 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. And having taken the seven loaves, he gave thanks, and broke [them] and gave [them] to his disciples, that they might set [them] before [them]; and they set [them] before the crowd. And they had a few small fishes, and having blessed them, he desired these also to be set before [them]. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up of fragments that remained seven baskets. And they [that had eaten] were about four thousand; and he sent them away.

And so we see that the Teaching and the Blessings of the Word were not meant exclusively for the Jewish nation. The Promise of Salvation is open, as John 3:16 says, to: “whosever will”.

But the religious leaders of the people could not understand this, refused to even consider it. To them, salvation was a right, and inherited promise… (as I mentioned above) the root of their identity as the people of God. Jesus has gone from infringing on their popularity, stealing their audience, to threatening that identity. From here on in Mark we will start seeing their animosity grow.

Were they wrong?

It is a fair question to ask if their response was really uncalled for. After all, if Jesus’ teaching would eventually lead the people to reject the Temple, doesn’t Psalm 69 justify them?

Psalm 69:9 For the zeal of thy house hath devoured me, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me.

Certainly, many of them claimed they were defending their Faith. Or were they defending the status quo? Their strongest argument rested in the Law, in the fact that God Himself instituted it. How could deviating from that Law, given to the children of Israel, ever be right with God? God doesn’t contradict Himself. And even Jesus Himself said in the Sermon…

Matthew 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to make void the law or the prophets; I am not come to make void, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Until the heaven and the earth pass away, one iota or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all come to pass.

To consider any other measure of goodness or any other definition of evil that is not strictly demarcated by the literal interpretation of the Law would surely lead to anarchy… wouldn’t it? I think we can begin to understand their confusion.

But the fact that it was a confusion that they clung to by their own stubbornness can be proven by turning to the life of a Pharisee who crashed head on with Jesus’ claims and suddenly realized that all Jesus was teaching, was already taught by God the Father throughout the Law and the Prophets.

When Jesus said that God desires mercy and not sacrifice (in Matthew 9:13), he is quoting from the prophet Hosea (6:6). To reject Jesus’ statement would be to reject the word of the prophet Hosea. Is the Pharisees’ scandal justified?

How about when King David says…

Psalm 40:6-8 Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: ears hast thou prepared me. Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not demanded; Then said I, Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me— To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart.

Was David rejecting the Temple or God’s will?

Or was he seeing through to God’s heart?

It was to reveal God’s heart that the Son of God became man. And that Heart is open to all humanity. This is what Paul the apostle, the Pharisee of Pharisees was commissioned by Jesus to tell the Gentile world. Consider Jesus’ teaching of the real origin of evil above as you read this passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:13-23 For *ye* have been called to liberty, brethren; only [do] not [turn] liberty into an opportunity to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…

… But I say, Walk in [the] Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh’s lust. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire; but if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, disputes, schools of opinion, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revels, and things like these; as to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God’s kingdom.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control: against such things there is no law.

Like Jesus said, all the evil that human perpetrates on human comes from within us: what Paul calls the flesh. But there is Hope because the flesh does not have exclusive power over our lives. And that is Good News because, as Paul says, deep inside (all of) us there is a desire to do the right thing (“those things which ye desire”).

The problem is that we have lived so long thinking our flesh is in charge that we don’t know we can break free.

If that is where we are then we need to listen again to the Good News: There is One more powerful than the flesh, ready and willing to break those chains and lead us into freedom: The Spirit. And it is here for all of us thanks to Jesus. This is what He told His disciples, hours before going to the cross:

John 16:7-13 But I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you.  And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…

…I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when *he* is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming.

The Spirit shall guide us into all Truth.

That is His Promise for all humanity.