Old Town Christian Fellowship
Mark 7
BUT THEIR HEART
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  • Mark 7

    Welcome church family! Open your bibles with me to Mark chapter 7. Let’s pray together...
    When we left off last week, Jesus and His disciples crossed back over the Sea of Galilee to the Northwestern shore and were visiting the villages of there between Capernaum and Magdala, they were met by crowds of people seeking to be healed and they were. Well, when we get to chapter 7, and the inspectors show up.
    Let’s read down through this a bit so you can get the flavor of the scene.
    Mark 7:1–5 LSB
    1 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, 2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?”
    SO do you guys get the picture of what is happening here? Mark tells us that the Pharisees and some of the Scribes roll up from Jerusalem. In our studies so far have these guys been the good guys or the bad guys? I think today, as we see their conflicts with Jesus, as we see their legalistic, methodistic, ritualistic, outward displays of religion we are a bit grossed out by it. From Mark’s telling of the account, we are in good company, as we will see when they challenge Jesus, He returns the favor and rightly calls them out as the hypocrites that they became.
    But I think it is important to note that that feeling towards them was not always the case. You have heard me speak of the oppression of Rome against the Jews at the time of Jesus. The reign of Alexander the Great, and then the subsequent reign of his four leading generals upon his death had the goal of spreading the Greek culture across the world, and they were pretty successful at least at first.
    We read about the Hellenists in the book of Acts, the Greek speaking Jews. Well the Pharisees were actually the guys that stood up to them, revolted against them and led the people to do the same. To hold onto the Jewish heritage, hold onto the Hebrew language, and the culture. At one time they were hero’s among the people.
    SO when these guys, the religious leaders of the day, along with the Scribes showed up, it’s like the record is playing and the needle gets scratched across the surface. The officials from Jerusalem have shown up. Everything stops, all attention is on them.
    It would be similar to us having church here this morning and all of a sudden a bunch of black SUV’s pull in the lot, and out comes dozens of FBI agents straight from Washington D.C.
    The Scribes were the guys that could make you feel stupid even if you were kinda smart. They were highly educated. Well studied. It was their job and their roll to study the scriptures, interpret the scriptures, comment on them and meticulously copy them.
    So they show up, they assess the situation, and the accusations begin.. I love the play by play, with color commentary, that Mark gives us here. Verse 2 again. They roll up
    Mark 7:2 LSB
    2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed.
    Mark explains to us what that was...
    Mark 7:3–4 LSB
    3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)
    Explain - the Jews where the chosen people of God, called to be separate from all other nations on the earth and called to be a holy people. How could they know if they touched someone at the market, or came in contact with a gentile. So they developed traditions. To show that they understood the calling of God.
    Often times traditions, at least in their origin can be good things, well intended. There is generally nothing wrong with developing traditions, your family has them, my family has them. When they become bad is when you make your traditions a rule or a requirement for me. Or you begin to judge me as less spiritual than you, because we don’t keep the same traditions. That is really the deal with these guys.
    Mark 7:5 LSB
    5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?”
    Notice a couple of things here. We know the popularity of Jesus is soaring at this point. These guys now view themselves as His rivals. He’s messing up the good thing they’ve got going, so they come to find fault, only they can find none in Jesus. Why do your guys eat heads of grain on the Sabbath, and now why do your disciple violate the tradition?
    And notice it is not with unwashed hands, but with defiled hands...their inquiry is more than a question, it is both and accusation and a judgment. Jesus now rightly calls them out..
    Mark 7:6 LSB
    6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
    Jesus calls them a bunch of actors, as He is always concerned about the heart and theirs are not with Him..
    Mark 7:7–9 LSB
    7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’ 8 “Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
    The Jews had and knew the commandments of God, but right along with that was the Talmud, Mishna. Basically the commentary on the law and the commentary on the commentary. On top of that was the oral traditions that were passed down.
    Jesus here is saying you have elevated your traditions above the written word of God, setting aside the commandment of God, to your traditions. I asked earlier if these guys were the good guys or the bad guys? We need to be careful that we don’t become just like them. It is one thing to see their lives in conflict to the word of God and call sin, sin.
    But I’ll tell you it is super easy to become a modern day Pharisee. That church over there gets all caught up in what you wear. Jesus was a carpenter, so we wear Carhart's, flannels and jeans at our church! We do it right and they just aren’t as good as us. I heard the church over there doesn’t teach verse by verse through the bible...well that puts them down here on the spiritual scale compared to me up here.
    They don’t vote like I do, they aren’t patriotic, they this and they that and it has nothing to do with do they love and follow Jesus. Even within our church. Well, they don’t come as often as I do. They only serve the church in 7 areas and I serve in 9. They do security, but pastor Brian says his favorite are the ones that serve in children’s ministry. Which isn’t even true, it is our prayer ministry.
    The whole problem with these Pharisees was seeing themselves a better than others, because of these outward observances and traditions. There was another group at the time called the Sadducees. They were more of the liberals of the day. They were more concerned about politics than they were religion, so where the Pharisees would take the law of God and build boundaries around it. The Sadducees were the guys that found loop holes so it didn’t really apply to them.
    IF were not careful, we can become both. Create loopholes around the things we don’t like and judge others for not following the things that we do like.
    Jesus talk about one of those loopholes...
    Mark 7:10–13 LSB
    10 “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ 12 you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
    Explain Corban
    When Jesus had had enough of these guys, He turns to talk to the people...
    Mark 7:14–16 LSB
    14 And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [“And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
    Mark 7:17–19 LSB
    17 And when He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable. 18 And He said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
    But not all good for you.
    He again directs us back to the heart.
    Mark 7:20–23 LSB
    20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
    Reflect
    Mark 7:24 LSB
    24 Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.
    a gentile region - Jewish tradition would not allow a good Jew to enter into the house of a Gentile.
    Mark 7:25–27 LSB
    25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
    Now some people take offense at this, or least what Jesus is saying and what He’s not saying...
    Little dog, not a scavenging mangy beast roaming the streets. BUT beyond all that there is great significance here this area in the region of Tyre was probably the only time that Jesus ventured outside of the Nation of Israel. This was pagan Gentile land. It was an area that had a long history of being opposed to the nation of Israel. This was the home of Jezebel that both Ezekiel and Zechariah had prophesied against.
    Mark Edwards writes,
    Exalting Jesus in Mark Jesus Cares for the Nations, and so Should We (Mark 7:24)

    “Tyre probably represented the most extreme expression of paganism, both actually and symbolically, that a Jew could expect to encounter”

    Spoiler alert, verse 31 starts, and again He went out from the region of Tyre, so she was the mission, don’t miss that in the exchange.. actually I want to point out something else in verse 27 and that is the word FIRST
    Mark 7:27 LSB
    27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
    It’s not appropriate to take a child’s plate that belongs to them and set it on the floor for the dogs...
    Romans 1:16 LSB
    16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
    Mark 7:28–30 LSB
    28 But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29 And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.
    None of us deserve a seat at the table, but this woman was persistent, she was humble, that is the way we should alway approach Jesus..she asked and kept asking. Paul had a thorn in His side, and He asked and He kept asking. Church let me encourage you to do the same. Last week we read of the disciples rowing and rowing for hours as Jesus observed them in the struggle. The Lesson was over when the lesson had been learned.
    Far to often we ask the Lord, pour out our hearts to Jesus and when we don’t have the answer to our dreams 75 minutes later, we give up. Don’t give up. If you have not received a loud and clear no, keep asking!
    Be like your kids, when they ask you if you don’t say no, that is practically a yes right. Mom can I do this? Can I, can I , can I...sigh, well see, not right now...Dad, can I do this...What did your Mother say...probably, or she said to ask you.
    Ask humbly until you get an answer or until you get a no.
    Mark 7:31–32 LSB
    31 And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him.
    Don’t put Jesus in a box. We can through traditions even into the way that we think He is going to work.
    Mark 7:33–34 LSB
    33 And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
    Be careful the elders don’t spit on you.
    Sigh
    Mark 7:35–37 LSB
    35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
    Closing
    Have a Great Week!

        • Mark 7:1–5NKJV

        • Mark 7:2NKJV

        • Mark 7:3–4NKJV

        • Mark 7:5NKJV

        • Mark 7:6NKJV

        • Mark 7:7–9NKJV

        • Mark 7:10–13NKJV

        • Mark 7:14–16NKJV

        • Mark 7:17–19NKJV

        • Mark 7:20–23NKJV

        • Mark 7:24NKJV

        • Mark 7:25–27NKJV

        • Mark 7:27NKJV

        • Romans 1:16NKJV

        • Mark 7:28–30NKJV

        • Mark 7:31–32NKJV

        • Mark 7:33–34NKJV

        • Mark 7:35–37NKJV

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