This post accompanies my video reading of Mark 7 published on the Circular Grace YouTube channel.
Have the Jews forgotten who God is?
I say it time and time again, what an exciting chapter! Honestly, I truly believe that every chapter is exciting. We are reading about Jesus, what He said and what He did when He walked amongst us in the flesh. It's awesome and wonderful to behold and every word is exciting to me as a believer and follower.
Again, I'm thrilled to see Mark really helping us to focus in on the messages. In Matthew we get the very important clarity on how Jesus relates to God's story in the Old Testament. Without Matthew's Gospel, we'd struggle to understand without being very, very familiar with the Old Testament, Jewish custom and history. Mark can dispense with this level of detail Matthew must include and instead, it seems he helps us more with the meaning behind Jesus' words. He spells things out for us.
Let's jump into the published commentaries to learn more about the messages gifted to us in this chapter.
Enduring Word Commentary
If we cast our memories back to previous chapters, we'll remember that the Jewish religious leaders have already decided to reject Jesus and plot to kill him. It seems they have now set out to gather evidence for a trial.
a. Having come from Jerusalem: This was another official delegation of religious leaders from Jerusalem, coming to evaluate the ministry of Jesus. We saw a previous delegation in Mark 3:22, and they pronounced a harsh condemnation against Jesus. This delegation from Jerusalem already made up their mind about Jesus and looked for something to confirm their opinion.
This whole chapter seems focused on the difference between what is internal and external to some degree. In the heart compared to not in the heart, from the Will of God or outside the Will of God. It paints a picture of the nature of faith as something internal rather than external. It contrasts the difference between faith and ritual, ceremony or tradition. Faith is something we have in our heart rather than a state of being that we can create by merely doing something special. Maybe simply, we could consider it a discussion around the difference between the Will of God and the will of man. God did Will that people and objects should be cleansed before coming into His presence in the Old Testament book of Exodus. Since then however ceremonial and ritual hand washing has been further elaborated as a tradition. This tradition was thought up and developed by Religious elders. Jesus is pointing out that the tradition has overshadowed and replaced the true meaning of what God intended. My simple example, it's not logical to wash your hands and then do something to make them dirtier than they were before you washed them. It would be hypocritical to to suggest something was a truth when it is clearly not true.
ii. “The biblical mandate that the priests had to wash their hands and feet prior to entering the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:19; 40:12) provided the foundation for the wide-spread practice of ritual washings in Palestinian and diaspora Judaism.” (Lane)
A little context is very helpful in forming a fuller understanding. In Jewish religion at the time and still today, there is written law and alongside this they have oral tradition. Religious leaders had considered the written word and further developed it and come up with a new hand washing ceremony that they determine has superceded Gods written law. This is what Jesus is at great pains to point out. God's Will has taken a back seat to oral tradition. This snippet provides an explanation of the seriousness. Religious leaders have begun to declare that the words of men are higher than Gods Word.
ii. “Rabbi Eleazer said, ‘He who expounds the Scriptures in opposition to the tradition has no share in the world to come’… The Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions in the Talmud, records, ‘It is a greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the Rabbis than to contradict Scripture itself.’” (Wiersbe)
I can't recommend this commentary more, it will really help with an understanding of not only this chapter but of the importance of understanding the Will of God as revealed to us in scripture.
https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/mark-7/
Blue Letter Bible Commentary
This commentary also provides much clarity on the discussion above. What jumped out for me is the emphasis on the need for ordinary people to understand. This was why Jesus spoke to us at length. He wanted to correct the false teaching being offered by those claiming to represent God. Jesus wanted us to understand that what was being taught was not the will of God. Jesus came to give us the Will of God. To explain what God wanted from us. To correct the misrepresentation taking place.
Note, It is not enough for the common people to hear, but they must understand what they hear. When Christ would run down the tradition of the Pharisees about washing before meat, he strikes at the opinion which was the root of it. Note, Corrupt customs are best cured by rectifying corrupt notions.
This commentary provides a great perspective on Jesus' mission.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Mar/Mar_007.cfm
Bible Ref Commentary
The story about the Greek lady and Jesus' remarks to her regarding crumbs and dogs is hotly debated. I shared my simplistic reflection of Jesus' conversation and mercy towards the Greek lady. This commentary expands upon my thoughts to provide greater clarify and a fuller understanding. They helpfully link the occasion in with the theme of the whole chapter. We're being offered the opportunity to consider the pitfalls of empty ceremony and ritual at the beginning of the chapter and here we have a working example.
Even Jesus' ministry in general is designed to reach the Jews and leave reaching the Gentiles for Paul and early members of the church. The gospel is meant for the Jews first. But when faced with a Gentile woman with a great need, Jesus forgoes tradition and takes the moral act of granting her request.
If you have a different interpretation picked up from another reputable source, I'd love to hear it. We often face a choice in terms of interpretation and sometimes, often it can be the same answer differently stated. A little like the difference between how Matthew and Mark explain things.
https://www.bibleref.com/Mark/7/Mark-chapter-7.html
I'll leave it there for this chapter but hope you were able to learn something new!
Also, yes. Reading Leviticus recently I was struck by the profound practicality around hygiene from a health perspective. What an Awesome God 🙏
Wow, wonderful comments Edna. Thank you! I always look forward to what you may say because I know you'll pick up on an important aspect that didn't pop into my mind. I really benefited from you drawing out the notion of things that we consume that are not food. Pornography is a very good example but it made me consider media generally. I'm as guilty as any of following what's going on in the world with a greater intensity than maybe good for me. We get exposed to the sins of the world and pulled in to the so called right and wrong of any given situation. Tempted constantly to pronounce judgement, deciding who is evil and who isn't. It's easy to become quite partisan and to forget the truth that non are good. It's very difficult to be in the world but not of the world. Thinking about your words, I was reminded of how important it is to spend time consuming the Word of God. Basically to focus on making Gods Will the dominant opinion guiding our heart. It takes discipline, it's easy to get distracted and fall into the world. To let the world and its 'man' created words dominate our thoughts and corrupt our hearts. I like the concept of putting on God's armour. Actively guarding our hearts from attack. Just my thoughts based on your great comment ❤️
I gleaned a lot from reading these commentaries.
Man-made religious traditions then, as they are now, can be more a spiritual hindrance than a help. Unless they are drawing us closer to God then what is the point in observing these traditions? We are now in the Lenten season and many churches practice this tradition. If self-denial is void of any spiritual significance, then this tradition is meaningless. It is only an empty ritual. I think we are like the Pharisees who are giving people additional burdens with our traditions. Jesus said, “My yolk is easy and my burden is light.” Some manmade traditions are anything but light.
Another thing that spoke to me was the reference to food “nothing entering man from the outside defiles us. I am glad the commentary mentioned pornography as that is something that can be taken in and corrupt the mind. Even what is considered soft porn does defile. I read an article on the violent pornography culture prevailing amongst our youth. It has warped boys thinking about how to properly treat girls and girls believing that being abused is normal. Boys think girls want to be abused and even when girls say no what they really mean is yes. Girls think it is their job to make the boys happy and abuse is even a sign of a boy’s affection. Parents are naive too as they believe their son who watches pornography would never harm a girl. Violent porn is fantasy about violent sex. Unlike violent movies where actors are playing the role of someone being shot or beaten, in porn flicks, it is an actual real live girl being slapped, kicked and choked. Statistics claim that women between the ages of 14 and 80 have been abused due to their partner watching violent porn.
Regarding the woman’s request to heal her daughter and the derogatory term “dogs” for gentiles. I knew the term was derogatory but I did not know how profane and condescending was this term. Jesus cared about this gentile woman’s feelings and esteem by rephrasing the term to little dogs, “Jesus took the sting out of the words.” In Greek, diminutives characteristically are affectionate.” He did not want to diminish her self-worth, unlike the pornography mentioned above towards women.
I liked the part about the handwashing ritual. Fun Fact: During the black plague, fewer number of Jews died of this disease which is attributed to their hand washing ritual.