Mark 7

(1) Disregarding God’s Instructions for Manmade Ideas

Some Pharisees and Bible scholars came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of His apprentices were eating without washing their hands first, which was considered as something impure that estranged them from God. 

(The Pharisees and Jews don’t eat unless they carefully wash their hands first, following the tradition of the elders. Whenever they’re out in public they don’t eat unless they clean themselves first. There were lots of similar customs the Jews had been asked to observe such as washing their cups, pictures, and pots.)

So the Pharisees and Bible scholars asked Jesus,

“Why do your apprentices reject the traditions of our ancestors and eat their food with impure hands?”

Jesus responded,

“Isaiah‘s prophecy was right about you guys when God said through him:

‘This society honors Me with their words, but its heart is far away from Me. They worship Me in vain, teaching man-made rules as if they were requirements.’

“You guys are letting go of God’s instructions while holding onto man-made traditions. You’re experts at disregarding God’s instructions in order to keep your own traditions.

Moses said,

‘Honor your parents,’ and ‘Whoever speaks poorly of their parents should be put to death.’

“But you say,

‘If people fail to help their parents because they dedicate those resources to God instead, then they don’t need to help their parents.’ 

“That invalidates God’s word with a tradition that has been handed down! And you guys do lots of those kinds of things.”

(14) Inside Matters More than Outside

Then He called the crowd over and said, 

“Everyone listen and let this sink in: there isn’t anything on the outside that can defile you by going inside of you. It’s what comes out of you that defiles you. Whoever has the ears to hear this should pay attention to it.”

(17) Inner Issues are the Problem

When He left the crowd and went inside, His apprentices asked Him about that analogy and He said,

“You guys don’t get it either? Whatever goes into you from the outside can’t defile you, because it doesn’t enter your heart—it just goes into your stomach and then into the toilet.” (He was saying that all foods are clean.)

“Whatever comes out of you is what defiles you. The things that come out of the human heart are: worthless thoughts, sexual misconduct, stealing, murders, cheating on spouses, wanting an advantage over others, behaving unfairly, trickery, wanting what other people have, talking poorly about others, arrogance, and stupidity. Those are all painful things that come from the inside and defile people. 

(24) Demon Evicted from Non-Jewish Girl

Then Jesus started heading toward the region of Tyre. Whenever He went to someone’s house there, He tried to be discreet, but everyone ended up finding out He was there. There was one woman whose little girl had an impure spirit, so when she heard that Jesus was in town, she came and fell at His feet. She wasn’t Jewish—she had a Syrophoenician background—so when she kept asking Jesus to send the demon out of her daughter, He told her,

“Let God’s children eat their fill first. It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

But she replied,

“You’re right, sir. But the dogs under the table get to eat the crumbs!”

He said,

“With that in mind, you can go back home. The demon has come out of your daughter.”

When she got back home, she found the girl lying on the bed with the demon gone. 

(31) Jesus Heals Deaf Man

Then Jesus left Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, which is in the region of Decapolis. The people there brought Him a guy who was deaf and had a speech impediment, asking Jesus to place His hands on them. So Jesus pulled him aside from the crowd and stuck His fingers in the man’s ears. Then Jesus spit and wiped His saliva on the guy's tongue. Then Jesus looked up towards heaven, groaned, and said, “Ephphatha!” which means “Open up!” Then the man’s ears opened up, and his speech impediment went away. The man instantly started talking like normal. Jesus told the people there not to tell anyone, but the more He said that, the more they told everyone. Everyone was completely amazed, saying,

“Everything He does is amazing! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”