Scribes and Pharisees - Mark 7:1
A delegation of scribes and Pharisees had been sent from Jerusalem to gather information on Jesus because of his growing popularity. (See notes at 2:5-7 and 16 and the article on Pharisees and Saducees.) The trip would have been at least 65 miles, several days of walking. Jesus ministry had begun to stir up great concern among the Jewish leaders.
Ritual washings - Mark 7:2
The concern was not about health issues. It was about ritual washings.
Priestly ceremonial washings - Mark 7:3-4
The
tradition of the elders was the oral law that was passed down through the generations. The particular laws in view had their origin in the priestly ceremonial washings of Exod. 30:17-21; 40:12. The Pharisees were concerned that all of life and not just the priests would be holy. So they demanded these ritual washings of every one. See
WCF 28.3.
Unfair attack from the Jewish leaders - Mark 7:5
They
asked Jesus because they believed that a rabbi was responsible for the conduct of his followers. The disciples were not following the Pharisees' demands for ritual washing. Jesus defended the twelve against this unfair attack from the Jewish leaders.
Hypocrites - Mark 7:6-8
Jesus answered them first by calling them
hypocrites, second by quoting Isaiah 29:13, and third by expanding the conversation to the basic principle that the Pharisees often substituted human traditions for the word of God. See
BC 7.
One example of hypocrisy - Mark 7:10-13
Then Jesus gave one specific example of their hypocrisy.
Corban is an Aramaic word that Mark explained meant
Given to God.
Corban was a custom that developed out of Lev. 27:28. In Jesus' day it had become a way for children to avoid the need to honor their parents by supporting them in their later years. If a person declared his property
Corban, and promised to give it to the temple some day in the future he did not need to use it to support his parents. Of course there was no keeping of a record to see if such a promise was ever kept. In Jesus' eyes they were simply using the tradition of men to get out of keeping the command of God.
Need for purity - Mark 7:14-23
Jesus turned from the Pharisees to the crowd and then to the disciples in private. He focused on the core issue. The real need was not clean hands. The real need was a pure heart. An impure heart
defiles a person and leads
to all kinds of evil actions. Jesus said that the need for purity was so much more important and so much more difficult to deal with than the human traditions recognized.
The heart - Mark 7:19
The
heart is the center of a person's being. Food cannot make a person unclean before God. For Jesus all
foods were clean.
7:22 The word
envy translates a Greek phrase that literally means
an evil eye. It describes a person who jealously keeps an eye on both his own property and on the things of others. He will not share his own and looks for an opportunity to take the things of other people.
Envy - Mark 7:22
The word
envy translates a Greek phrase that literally means
an evil eye. It describes a person who jealously keeps an eye on both his own property and on the things of others. He will not share his own and looks for an opportunity to take the things of other people.
More Healings and Growing Opposition. - Mark 7:24-8:26
Jesus extended his ministry further into Gentile territories. Many themes are repeated from the earlier chapters. Particular emphasis is given to the failure of even his disciples to understand who Jesus really is.
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