Mark 7
Go Deeper
At first glance, these three passages in Mark 7 don’t seem all that connected. Upon further examination, there is a common thread between them: for Jesus, faithfulness is always the goal, not merely upholding tradition. For the second time (the first found in Mark 3), Jesus is approached by the Pharisees who are trying to call him out because the disciples were eating with unclean hands. Instead, Jesus flips the conversation on its head and points out the ways that they’ve abandoned God’s commands and turned them into mere rituals, not acts of devotion. He then heals a Gentile woman’s daughter, which also bucked Jewish tradition. At the end of the chapter, he goes back into a town where he was previously unwelcome and heals a deaf man (also a Gentile) who was previously unable to speak.
Tradition can be a powerful thing–and it’s not always bad, either. Your family, your alma mater, and Harris Creek all have certain traditions that have developed over time. The problem arises when we elevate tradition above whatever opportunities for faithfulness God has put before us. All of a sudden, our faith looks more like upholding a checklist or maintaining our preferences instead of taking the next step of obedience. Over time, we drift into sin that God despises, like Jesus calls out in verses 21 and 22. Instead, we have the daily opportunity to ask, “What does faithfulness look like today?” and pursue that with everything inside of us.
Questions
What point is Jesus trying to make when he responds to the Pharisees’ questions about the disciples eating with unclean hands?
Reread the list of things that defile a person in verses 21-22. Which of those are your “ditches”? Which do you have to be the most diligent to avoid?
Whether in the past or today, what traditions have you elevated above simple obedience and faithfulness?
In the midst of a pandemic that’s affecting daily life, what does faithfulness look like for you?