Tradition Versus the Commandment of God
Study note
Pharisees from Jerusalem challenge Jesus because his disciples eat without performing ritual handwashing. Jesus responds with a devastating critique, quoting Isaiah to expose the gap between their outward religious performance and their hearts' true condition. He then provides a concrete example: the practice of 'Corban,' by which a person could dedicate money to God as a way of avoiding the obligation to support aging parents, effectively using religious tradition to cancel God's own commandment to honor one's parents. This confrontation exposes how human traditions can actually become obstacles to genuine obedience.
1 A group of Pharisees and some scribes who had come all the way from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 They noticed that some of his disciples were eating without washing their hands first, which the Pharisees considered unclean. So they criticized them. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 The Pharisees — and Jewish people in general — always washed their hands in a special way before eating. They were following the traditions passed down from their ancestors. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 When they came home from the marketplace, they would not eat until they had washed. They also followed many other rules about washing cups, pots, bronze pans, and even tables. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 So the Pharisees and scribes confronted Jesus: "Why do your followers ignore the traditions of our ancestors? They eat their food with unwashed hands!" Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 Jesus fired back, "Isaiah described you perfectly when he wrote about hypocrites. He said: 'These people talk like they honor me, but deep down their hearts are nowhere near me.'" He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 "Their worship means nothing because they replace God's commands with man-made rules." Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 "You have dropped what God commanded and grabbed hold of human traditions instead -- things like how to wash your pots and cups. You do plenty of other things just like that." For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 Then he said, "You have become experts at ignoring God's commands so you can keep your own traditions." And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10 "Moses clearly said, 'Honor your father and your mother.' He also said, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother must be put to death.'" For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 "But you have a workaround. You let a person say to their parents, 'The money I could have used to help you is Corban' -- meaning they have declared it as a gift set apart for God." But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 "After that, you do not require them to do a single thing to help their parents." And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 "By doing this, you erase God's word and replace it with your traditions. And you pull this kind of thing all the time." Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
What Truly Defiles a Person
Study note
Calling the crowd to hear, Jesus makes the revolutionary declaration that nothing entering a person from outside can defile them; rather, defilement comes from within the human heart. Mark's editorial note that Jesus thereby declared all foods clean marks a seismic shift with profound implications for the later inclusion of Gentiles in the church. Jesus catalogs the evil thoughts and behaviors that flow from the corrupted human heart, teaching that the real problem is not ritual contamination but moral and spiritual corruption at the deepest level of human nature.
14 Jesus called the whole crowd closer and said, "Everyone, listen to this and truly think about it:" And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
15 "Nothing you eat or drink can make you unclean in God's eyes. What makes you unclean is what comes out of you -- your words and your actions." There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
16 "If you are listening, pay attention to this!" If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
17 After Jesus went inside, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him what that saying meant. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
18 He said, "Do you truly not get it either? Can you not see that food going into your body does not make you unclean before God?" And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
19 "Food does not reach your heart. It goes into your stomach and then passes through your body." (By saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are acceptable to eat.) Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
20 Then he continued, "What makes a person unclean is what comes from inside them." And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 "Ugly things come from inside a person's heart. Evil thoughts, sexual sin, fornication, murder --" For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 "stealing, greed, cruelty, lying, shameless behavior, jealousy, hurtful words, arrogance, and foolish choices." Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 "All these terrible things start on the inside and pour out, and they are what make a person unclean." All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith
Study note
Traveling into Gentile territory near Tyre and Sidon, Jesus encounters a Greek woman who begs him to heal her demon-possessed daughter. Jesus' initial response about feeding the children first before the dogs reflects the salvation-historical priority of Israel. But the woman's witty and humble reply, that even dogs eat the children's crumbs under the table, demonstrates extraordinary faith and persistence. Jesus grants her request, healing her daughter at a distance. This encounter, following the teaching about clean and unclean, powerfully illustrates that God's grace is not confined to ethnic or religious boundaries.
24 Jesus left that area and traveled to the region near Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house, hoping no one would know he was there. But it did not work -- people found out anyway. And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
25 Almost immediately, a woman whose little girl was tormented by an evil spirit heard he was there. She came and dropped to her knees at his feet. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
26 This woman was a Greek, born in Syrophenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
27 Jesus replied, "The children should eat first. It is not right to take food that belongs to the children and toss it to the dogs." But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
28 But she answered, "That is true, Lord. But even the dogs under the table get to eat the crumbs the children drop." And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
29 Jesus said, "That is a great answer. You can go home now. The demon has already left your daughter." And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
30 She went home and found her daughter resting peacefully on the bed, completely free from the demon. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
Healing the Deaf and Mute Man
Study note
Returning through Decapolis, Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment through an unusually physical and personal process: putting his fingers in the man's ears, touching his tongue, looking to heaven, sighing, and speaking the Aramaic command 'Ephphatha' -- 'Be opened.' The crowd's astonished response, 'He has done all things well,' echoes Genesis 1:31, where God declares his creation 'very good,' subtly suggesting that Jesus is performing a new creation. Despite Jesus' commands for silence, the news spreads uncontrollably.
31 From there, Jesus left the area around Tyre and Sidon. He made his way back toward the Sea of Galilee. He went through the region of Decapolis. And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.
32 Some people brought a man to Jesus who could not hear and could barely speak. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
33 Jesus pulled the man aside from the crowd so they were alone. He placed his fingers in the man's ears, then spit and touched the man's tongue with it. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
34 Looking up toward heaven, Jesus let out a deep sigh and said to the man, "Ephphatha!" -- that word means, "Open up!" And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35 Instantly, the man's ears opened and his tongue loosened. He started talking perfectly clearly. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
36 Jesus told the people not to spread the word about what happened. But the more he told them to keep quiet, the more they told everyone. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;
37 People were blown away. They kept saying, "Everything he does is perfect! He gives hearing to the deaf and speech to those who cannot talk!" And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.