Here again, are my notes for my sermon this week. Remember these are my notes (I don't read these) and there are lots of spelling and grammar mistakes.
Mark
7:1-23
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the
law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his
disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The
Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial
washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 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.)
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?” 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. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have
let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
And he continued, “You
have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your
own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone
who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 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)— then you no longer let them do anything
for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition
that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Again Jesus called the
crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing
outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes
out of a person that defiles them.” After he had left
the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person
from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into
their stomach, and then out of the body.”
He
went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from
within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality,
theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander,
arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
That
Which Defiles:
Helping
the Community
As we begin this section, we see that the Pharisees
are criticizing the disciples. At this point the disciples as well as Jesus are
doing ministry. The Disciples at this point have been out preaching and
bringing miracles. So now instead of just one person out there preaching and
doing miracles there are 12 more.
So the Pharisees are both criticizing these but
indirectly criticizing Jesus.
Jesus and his disciples are bringing something we have
heard about previously a teaching and power. Jesus and the disciples represent
a threat to their position and power. Previously when people had religious
questions or needed help they looked to the priest, they looked to the Pharisees,
now they are being pushed to the sidelines.
Before we get started, we need to understand the
motivations of the people making the claims. It’s like if someone criticizes a
church or even a policy be it political or ecclesiastical (church), sometimes
the question we need to ask is why are they doing it. Unfortunately the reason
reveals not a concern about being right but a concern about losing something politically
its usually power or greed, but sometimes it about losing the ability to do
something else or many times in the church the permission to sin.
We don’t see it right off the bat in this section but
looking through the gospels it is clear that the Pharisees didn’t want to lose
power or prestige. ****
So what is the complaint?
1. They
eat with unwashed hands (could spread disease)
2. They
weren’t respecting the elders.
3. Jesus
wasn’t teaching then well (Implied)
God gave command about washing but not to the extent
that the Pharisees took it.
By the way, they were correct. Washing as often as
they said would be a benefit to the community. Unwashed hands we know today are
one of the main reasons diseases are transmitted.
The traditions of the elders if followed meant people
were less likely to get sick. The traditions would help the community. Helping
the community was what the elders were to do.
The problem was they weren’t bringing it up as a
concern for the health of people. They were trying to discredit the
competition. ****
They were trying to trap Jesus
1. Yes,
I’m wrong.
2. I
don’t respect the elders
***Jesus sets the issue aside and deals with the
bigger issue.
***Jesus is going to address three groups
1. Pharisees
2. Crowd
3. Disciples
The Pharisees
Jesus says they are like the people Isaiah Prophesied
about.
“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. They worship me in vain; their teachings are
merely human rules.’
Jesus was saying that these people worshipped God, but
their hearts were in the wrong place and they used human rules to bypass the
intent of the law.
Church Father Irenaeus said of this in is book Against
Heresies: It this their rabbis suppress some of the commandments, add new
ones, and gave others their own interpretations, thus making the law serve
their own purpose.
They used the traditions of the elders, so they could
do what they wanted to do.
The tradition of washing was to help the community,
help others. The Pharisees it seemed were doing it not as a method of helping
but doing it to make others think that they were.
It like a person using hand sanitizer when the nurse
is watching so they look like they care, but really they don’t care.
Jesus had a great example. CORBIN
The idea was that you could give something to God and therefor
bypass giving it to your parents.
The even could give it to God and then didn’t have to
give it to their parents.
They could tell their parents who the law said they
were to honor. I would help you. but I gave the money to God (if you need it
ask him).
Example: you need a house but sorry I gave it to the
church. Then redeem it for 2/5 value and pocket the difference.
Redemption in the OT was there to help but the
Traditions of the Elders changed it so it added to their greed.
Today it might be I would have helped you but I gave
it to the church in your honor (not a bad thing but could be).
Jesus was pointing out that they had a heart problem.
They weren’t trying to help the community by pointing out what the disciples
had done, they were doing it for selfish purposes and trying to look spiritual.
By the way, Jesus was hoping to help them not condemn
them in front of others. This wasn’t Jesus writing an “open letter”
The CROWD
“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said,
“Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can
defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that
defiles them.”
Jesus told the crowd not “eat whatever you want,” he
was telling the crowd you need to deal with the what is on the inside of you that
is what is going to get you into real trouble.
EXAMPLE: A person cussing, the real problem is why.
Jesus throughout his ministry was trying to deal with
mankinds real problem, their heart and the sin that comes out of it.
The DISCIPLES
After he had left the crowd and entered
the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he
asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can
defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and
then out of the body.”
He went on: “What comes out of a person is
what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil
thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice,
deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from
inside and defile a person.”
You’re DULL- You haven’t got it yet?
By this time, they had listened to Jesus quite a bit.
Though not recorded in Mark they had listened to the Sermon on the mount in at
least some form at least twice and I would say it was realistic to say a lot
more than that. Just in that message it is clear that the real problem is on
the inside.
****Jesus wasn’t saying they shouldn’t wash their
hands he was saying that the real issues come from inside you.
Evil (evil, wicked, malicious, particularly as active)[1] comes from within
***YET: if the inside is changed, then the outside
will do what is right.
(Once it knows to)
Jesus did address the Pharisees brought up. However, Not
by telling them to wash their hands but dealing with their real problem. Their
heart.
Because when the inside is changed then what you do
will change. Then you can be a benefit to the community.
You want to truly help your community? Let Jesus
change your heart.
Jesus isn’t looking for you just to do your equivalent
of washing your hands, he wants what will cause you to be good in every
circumstance.
***
How do you change your heart?
1. Make
Jesus Lord
2. Learn
from his Word
Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New
Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 210.)
Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
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