Mark 7:1-23

1. Position yourself to hear God

2. Pore over the passage and paraphrase the main points

3. Pull out the spiritual principles

4. Pose the question

5. Plan obedience and pin down a date

 

Mark 7:1-23 (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?”

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.”

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.”

 

Paraphrase

·         The Pharisees were observing Jesus and His disciples and noted that they had not followed the law concerning correct practice for eating food

·         Jesus, takes them to the OT, to the Prophet Isaiah’s words and tells the Pharisees that they are hypocrites, honouring God with their lips but not their hearts, making their worship useless

·         Jesus tells them that they are abiding by human traditions rather than God’s commands

·         Jesus explains that it is not the things from outside the body that defiles them but what comes out of a person that defiles

Principles

·         Sometimes we can get so bound up in observing the law that we become judgmental of other people who are not doing the same

·         We can go through the motions of doing the right thing but our hearts are far from God

·         It is easy to hold onto what is traditionally or politically correct rather than being in obedience to the Word of God

·         It is important that we deal with our heart issues in order to be clean both inside and out

 Questions

·         Do we act more like a Pharisee than a true disciple of God?

·         What is our heart condition like?

·         Do we compromise the Word of God with the things of this world?

·         Do we concentrate on making the outside look clean to others or do we ensure our hearts are right before God which in turn produces good fruit on the outside?