In our study of Mark chapter seven, we will walk with Jesus as He shows the disciples the difference between traditions and faith. We will look at how traditions can even be elevated to a position above the Word of God over time.
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The P'rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n'tilat-yadayim.
A special delegation of Jewish leaders showed up to observe Jesus and His disciples. They noticed that they were eating without washing their hands.
(For the P'rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing. Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)
This delegation knew that this was not in keeping with the ways of the Jews. Their traditions were universally accepted among God's people and so seeing someone not keeping them identified them as non-Jews.
The P'rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, "Why don't your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"
These so-called leaders asked Jesus how He could allow His disciples to act in such a manner.
Yeshua answered them, "Yesha`yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites -- as it is written, `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.' "You depart from God's command and hold onto human tradition. Indeed,"
Jesus passed on the chance to debate the leaders about the merits of their traditions and instead pointed them back to the words of the prophet Isaiah. He had warned Israel of the fact that their religious traditions would one day be elevated above the very Word of God and that is just what was happening here. We notice that Jesus did not say that the tradition of hand washing was bad, as we all know that for the purposes of good health it is in fact good. He pointed out the fact that these traditions were becoming like an eleventh commandment and they were even forgetting the first ten. He goes on to explain that the Jews were just going through the motions of worship but their hearts were not even focused on the things of God anymore. Throughout the ages, the same thing has happened in the body of Christ. Why are there so many divisions (denominations) in the church? Men and women of God will start doing something that seems good and right in their local church (the hand-washing of our day). Over the generations, this tradition will be incorporated into a "statement of faith" and used to separate the group from the larger body of Christ. It can even get to the point where it is used as some man-made test of faith to determine whether a person will enter heaven or not. At this point, the tradition has replaced the Word of God and is exactly what Jesus was talking about here.
he said to them, "you have made a fine art of departing from God's command in order to keep your tradition! For Moshe said, `Honor your father and your mother,' and `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say, `If someone says to his father or mother, "I have promised as a korban" ' " (that is, as a gift to God) " ` "what I might have used to help you," ' then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this."
Apparently, it was the practice of the Jewish leaders of that day to tell the people to give offerings to the temple even at the expense of their parents. On the surface, this may seem like some sort of service to God but Jesus points out the fact that this tradition was contrary to the Law of Moses. He also points out that this is just one of the many ways that they were ignoring the word of God. We may ask ourselves what this has to do with us as Christians. There are many "Christian leaders" who tell people to neglect their financial responsibilities and send the money to their "ministry" as some kind of "seed offering". I have even seen Christians who send quantities of money to these "ministries" and then go to other ministries for help in meeting their basic needs of food and clothing. This practice goes against the Biblical principle of God's provision for His people. As David said (Psalm 37:25), "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Like Jesus told the Jewish leaders, there are many traditions in Christianity that have been set up that directly contradict the Word of God.
Then Yeshua called the people to him again and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand this! There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!" Some manuscripts include verse 16: "Anyone who has ears that can hear, let him hear!"
Jesus gathered the crowd and introduced them to the freedom that He had to offer them. The Jews were slaves to the Law and to their traditions. Early manuscripts have a verse 16 which reads: "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." This speaks to the fact that it is only through the power of the Spirit of God that a man can accept this. Because of pride, men have a desire to work to make a name for themselves. This is what happened at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 11) and continued in the religious leaders of that day. They wanted everyone to know and see how religious they were but Jesus was saying that religion cannot save you. The same thing happens in the church today as many put on a show of religion but lack a saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is only through the power of God that we can get past religion and get to a saving faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidim asked him about the parable. He replied to them, "So you too are without understanding? Don't you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine." (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.)
We see that the disciples still did not understand the freedom that they had obtained through their faith in Jesus. They asked Jesus what he had meant and He explained that things that enter our body are only temporary but what is in the heart lasts forever.
"It is what comes out of a person," he went on, "that makes him unclean. For from within, out of a person's heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness. All these wicked things come from within, and they make a person unclean."
Jesus went on to explain that the sin is not what is taken in as there is freedom in our faith. The sin is the attitudes and actions that come out which are not Christlike.
Next, Yeshua left that district and went off to the vicinity of Tzor and Tzidon. There he found a house to stay in and wanted to remain unrecognized, but keeping hidden proved impossible. Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her came to him and fell down at his feet. The woman was a Greek, by birth a Syro-phoenician, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
Jesus left and went to another area hoping for a little time of rest but people found out and a woman came to Him in hopes of freeing her daughter from a demon. We see that this woman was not a Jew as she was a Greek.
He said, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's food and toss it to their pet dogs." She answered him, "That is true, sir; but even the dogs under the table eat the children's leftovers." Then he said to her, "For such an answer you may go on home; the demon has left your daughter." She went back home and found the child lying on the couch, the demon gone.
We see an interesting conversation between Jesus and this woman. He basically tells her that He has come for the Jews. Her answer is that He does not have to take away from them to meet her need as well. She saw the fact that Jesus came for all men and He commended her for it and drove the demon from her daughter. We notice that it only required a "crumb" of faith for it to be done and must ask ourselves if we have even a "crumb" ourselves.
Then he left the district of Tzor and went through Tzidon to Lake Kinneret and on to the region of the Ten Towns. They brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and asked Yeshua to lay his hand on him.
Now, we see the faith of some people in bringing a deaf man to Jesus. They believed that Jesus could physically heal him and so they brought him to the place for healing. We must ask ourselves whether we have that same kind of faith, today, as Christians.
Taking him off alone, away from the crowd, Yeshua put his fingers into the man's ears, spat, and touched his tongue; then, looking up to heaven, he gave a deep groan and said to him, "Hippatach!" (that is, "Be opened!"). His ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly.
Jesus took the man away from the crowd to heal him and in this we see a big difference compared to the so-called faith healers of our day. It wasn't about putting on a show for a crowd but simply healing the man. We notice that Jesus touched the man physically and may wonder why He did so when He had not needed to touch the girl to drive out the demon. Sometimes, Jesus used aids to healing such as mud or a physical touch based on the circumstances and the amount of faith of the one being healed.
Yeshua ordered the people to tell no one; but the more he insisted, the more zealously they spread the news. People were overcome with amazement. "Everything he does, he does well!" they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!"
Once again, we see Jesus tell the people not to tell people about this healing but they continued to speak of it. He wanted them to see the spiritual healing but all they were focused on was the physical. It is much the same today as some people put on big "healing services" or "miracle services" and schedule them like some kind of circus act. They are usually fake and are not what Jesus did in His ministry.
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