Mark 7:31-37-- Speech Renewed

"Say 'Ahh'"

Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!" And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. They were utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

This is one of two sufferers of deafness and muteness in Mark’s gospel. Again, Jesus wants privacy to keep people from knowing how much of God’s authority he can wield.  He sighs before he heals him—which is elsewhere an indication of displeasure or exasperation (Mark 8:12).  He speaks a command in Aramaic and uses saliva to heal him. Jesus sometimes uses his saliva as a healing agent in his miracles (Mark 8:23; John 9:6). It is an amazing miracle, as the response from the crowd shows.  The crowds opinion is very broad—that Jesus does nothing wrong, everything he does is good.  This is comparable to God’s work, which is all good (Genesis 1:31). 

We may not do everything well.  Frankly, Jesus called all fathers "evil" (Luke 11:13), so at least guys are in trouble in the morality department. Some like to think that everything we do is evil, but I think the Bible gives freedom to say that some of our actions are right and some are wrong.  Sometimes we have good intentions and sometimes not so good.  Sometimes our intentions are so mixed we don't even know. 

And that goes for our speech as well.  James said that our tongue is a fire lit by hell.  That's pretty strong.  At the very least, though, we can say that our speech is at times wrong-headed.  Sometimes we say just the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong way.  Sometimes it's more than sometimes.  Perhaps the mute guy had the right idea?

If Jesus can take a man of silence and give him speech-- that even without asking-- surely he can take our wrong-headed speech and turn it into good.  All things that Jesus does is good, and he is in the healing and transformation business.  He can take our tongue spurred by an evil heart and turn it into something good.  He can take that which destroys and transform it into construction.  He can take a conflict-maker and transform it into a peace maker.  

And since we CAN ask for it, we should.  If we need our mouth to express wisdom, all we have to do is ask for it, and we will receive. 

Mark 7:24-30-- Jesus the Racist

Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race—a Canaanite. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

Although we occasionally see Jesus evaluating whether he should do a miracle or not (Mark 9:20-24; 10:51), and see a time when he is unable to do miracles (Mark 6:5) this is the only case in which Jesus refuses to use his authority to help another.  We see in Matthew that the possibility of refusing is there (Matt. 7:6; 10:5, 14), and has probably been used before.  Jesus refuses to help this woman for good reasons.  She is a Canaanite, a race that God had declared doomed to destruction, not salvation (Deuteronomy 7:1-2; Judges 2:1-3).  And so having some Canaanites be demonized would be their normal state, for they are under perpetual judgement.  At first Jesus ignored her.  When she refused to be ignored, then Jesus insulted her.  Instead of walking away, she accepted the insult and built upon it in order to gain the deliverance of God.  Jesus recognized then that this woman—although a Canaanite—was a woman of faith in Yahweh.  This faith was displayed by her persistence (Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:1-8) and her extreme humility (Matthew 8:5-10; Luke 18:9-14).  Everyone, even those whom God declared to be forever separated from his people, will be accepted by God if they have faith, for example Rahab and Ruth, both in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:2-5; James 2:25-26).

The prejudice of Jesus is deeply disturbing.  It is natural for a first century Jew to have this opinion of a Canaanite, but Jesus?  Well, we thought better of him. His attitude in this paragraph is simply racism.  There is no question about it.  He is judging this woman on her genetic heritage.  

On the other hand... he came all the way to Tyre, where there are few Jews and a lot of Gentiles, and certainly a number of Canaanites.  He was not planning on personally ministering to Gentiles, although he did on occasion.  Why did he come to Tyre?  He was in hiding... but why Tyre?  Because he needed to meet someone there?  Because the disciples needed to learn a lesson?

However Jesus starts out, his conclusion is amazing.  Because this woman who was cursed of God by her birth, Jesus declared her to be a saint of God, one chosen to be worthy of the blessing of the faithful.  This transformation happened in an instant.  How?  By demonstrating her faith.

She did not declare her faith by stating a doctrinal statement.  Or even saying any conventional prayer or liturgical flourish.  Rather, she just cleverly accepted an insult that was given to her by Jesus.  What did this show?  First of all, it showed her absolute faith in Jesus.  Not only that he could do the miracle she was requesting, but that his evaluation of her was correct.  She so trusted him, that his insult was accepted and her humiliation was complete.

And humiliation is the perfect demonstration of faith.

She provides an introduction to Jesus' teaching about the cross and his own demonstration of faith.  The greatest demonstration of faith is the acceptance of humiliation.  This is not self-deprecation, nor is it false humility.  Rather, it is accepting an authority's lowering of your status.  More about this later.  It is enough to know that to have faith is also to accept deep humility.  If we reject all humiliation, then there is a question whether we have the faith of Jesus at all. 

Mark 7:14-23-- Blessed are the Pure in Heart

After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated into the toilet, making all foods clean?” And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

Jesus is concluding the discussion that he has had with the scribes and Pharisees concerning the traditions of men and the commandments of God.  He offers a mystery to the crowds—as was his normal mode (see Mark 4:11-12).  He summarizes his understanding of purity—the outside coming in does not defile, but the inside coming out.  The disciples understood this no better than the crowds.  Jesus seemed surprised and upset at the disciples lack of understanding.  He expected them to understand better than the crowds, even though he did not explain.  This attitude to the disciples is found elsewhere, and it increases throughout the book of Mark, until it reaches a climax in 8:17-21.  

Purity laws in Judaism—whether in the law of Moses or in the traditions of the elders—all have to do with what one touches or eats.  Jesus had already spoken above about the washing of hands and how it is unnecessary to obey God’s commands (Mark 7:5-7).  Indirectly, he spoke to the issue of the impurity of a person because of what one touched, implying that just because you might have touched something unclean, that did not defile the person before God.  Here he speaks more directly on the issue of eating that which is impure.  

Jesus said that the food one eats just passes through one, so it cannot make one unclean.  The food is clean, not because it is excrement (for human excrement is considered impure—Deuteronomy 23:12-14; Ezekiel 4:12-15), but because is passed all the way through the body, without effecting the central part of the soul—the heart.  Jesus is saying that it is not what one touches or what one eats that is significant, but the intent with which they do so.  Thus sin does not initiate from outside, but from inside a person—with thoughts, intents and desires  And it is acting on evil thoughts or intentions which separates one from God—which makes one defiled.  

At the end of this section, Jesus gives a list of sins that are offensive to God and will separate one from him.  Vice lists are common in the New Testament (e.g. Romans 1:29-31; I Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 21:8) and have many things in common.  The vice lists that Jesus uses in other places are based on the ten commandments (e.g. Mark 10:19), but this one is more comprehensive, listing sins that are not only in the ten commandments (thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting) as well as others, all of which are described in the books of Moses  (Evil intent-- Exodus 10:10; Slander— Genesis 27:35; Leviticus 19:16; Sensuality-- II Peter 2:7 [referring to the men of Sodom]; Evil eye—Genesis 34:2; Blasphemies—Leviticus 24:11-16; Prideful/defiant-- Numbers 15:30; Foolishness— Deut 22:21).  They are describing the acts of those who are not to be allowed to remain among God’s people—which is the purpose of all the vice lists.

"Cleanliness is next to godliness" is a cliche, which has been assumed untrue by many, but assumed true by many of our actions.  It is amazing how we in middle class society see people as morally or spiritually unclean because they have a hard time cleaning their body.  If a person enters a church smelling funny or visibly dirty, then they sit in the back, or are given "dirty"looks.  If a person has lice or scabies, it is assumed that they didn't clean enough, even though studies show that isn't true.  

In our age, being dirty is associated with being of a lower class, which is associated with being unspiritual or even immoral.  The homeless and the mentally ill are considered to need "evangelism", although they are in no less need of it than the middle or upper classes.  This is less because of the lack of cleanliness itself than because of the assumption that people who struggle to eat must have spiritual problems, although Jesus said that his family would be people who have problems finding enough to eat or drink or clothes or who are in prison.

Jesus is saying that we need to stop looking at the outward appearance, the physical actions of people, but instead look at the intent of one's heart.  So often we see "rule breakers" or even law-breakers as the problem in our society, when it is really those who break love.  Those who follow love and grace are often those who are breakers of policies and rules because human need cannot fit into a rule.

And men's evil cannot be ruled- or lawed-away, either.  Evil exists in the most pristine of churches, because it travels in the hearts of people, where it cannot be seen.  We cannot be rid of other's evil.  All we can do is examine ourselves, and discover our own evil.  And it is only God who can rid us of it.

Mark 7:9-13-- Set Aside for God

He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER'; and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH'; but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),' you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."

While Jesus seems to be speaking of the same subject as the last paragraph, the subject is actually slightly different.  In v. 12, Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees “neglect” to do God’s commands, but they focus on human tradition or law.  In this paragraph, Jesus is giving an example of how the Pharisees actually disobey God’s command in preference to human law.  Jesus uses as his example the fifth command out of the ten—“honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12) and supports it with a command denying evil speech against one’s parents (Exodus 21:17).  The tradition the Pharisees were proposing on the surface seems to have nothing to do with these two commands.  They were saying that one may make a vow to the Lord to dedicate the resources one would normally use to provide for one’s parents in their old age, and to give it to God’s use (possibly the temple).  The word corban is a Hebrew word which means “gift”—in other words, even though someone is using it, it has been set aside for God, and thus cannot be used for one’s parents.  

Jesus, however, sees that the honor of one’s parents is done precisely by caring for them when they are no longer able to care for themselves.  And since the law says that to speak evil to one’s parents is a crime worthy of death, then anyone speaking to their parents of how they will not be caring for them is speaking an evil and thus is worthy of the death penalty.  But this is the very thing the tradition is telling them to do—to dishonor parents by not caring for them and to speak evil to them by telling them how you are going to dishonor them.  Jesus is using this as one example of how the scribes and Pharisees twist Scripture on it’s head to tell people to do exactly what the Scriptures tell people not to do.  Thus, Jesus concludes, the Pharisees are not interested in obeying God at all.  They are only interested in keeping men’s traditions.

As deeply committed religious people, we know instinctively that God is more important than our families.  After all, Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and mother, sister and brother, wife and children and even his own life, cannot be my disciple."  (Luke 14:26)  Our commitment to God should me more than our commitment to our families.  Our commitment to God should be more than our commitment to our fellow church member, the poor or our closest friends.  Always keep God first.

This is true.  And it is not true.  Both.

Because what we often fail to remember is that our commitment to God includes our commitment to our family.  Our commitment to our brother or sister in Christ.  Our commitment to the poor.  Even our commitment to our enemy.  We may feel that associating with a certain family member is a compromise of our faith.  But if our faith is to love, then perhaps it is keeping our faith.  Certainly holding onto our anger and bitterness isn't a real part of our spiritual life.

John takes this principle even more severely: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." (1 John 4:20) If we fail to care for our family, our poor, our needy, our friends, then we don't have the commitment to God that we think we have.

Jesus says that the bottom line is to always care for our needy, whether they be our parents or our children or our poor neighbors.  If we don't, then we really aren't obeying God at all, no matter what else we are doing.

So what did Jesus mean about the "hating" of family?  Well, our family will tell us that if we really loved them we had to share in their prejudices and hatreds and practices that God doesn't want us to participate in, or else we "hate" them and everything they stand for.  Let's face it, most of our families have things they stand for that we should hate, whether a political ideal or a commitment to money or a certain destructive lifestyle.  Those we should separate from.

But always love.  Always care.  Always meet need.  Because that's what God has called us to. 

Mark 7:1-8-- Wash Your Hands!

The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

The fact that some Pharisees and scribes were coming from Jerusalem was significant, for it showed that Jesus was gaining official notice from some of the leaders in Jerusalem.  Not the high priest, but some of the education facilities were paying attention to his teaching.  

As others have done in the past, these officials attack Jesus through the actions of his disciples, which seems unorthodox.  Three things can be seen from this—that first, Jesus followed the orthodox practice (in this case, washing his hands) or else they would have complained about his practice specifically; second, that the disciples were unschooled and clueless about the finer points of the law; and third, that in not correcting his disciples, Jesus didn’t care whether they followed the orthodoxy of his day or not.  Even though Jesus himself practiced proper orthodox actions, he did not insist that his disciples do the same.  

It is well documented that the Pharisees were very concerned with keeping things ritually clean.  Hand washing—as well as the washing of the outside of pots—was considered very significant for keeping all things acceptable before God.  While this may seem ridiculous in modern eyes, the modern focus on cleansing things with an eye to controlling germs would be equally ridiculous in the first century.  But what the Pharisees were most concerned about in the washing of hands is that it is the passed down opinion that God is concerned with this action. 

Jesus’ rebuttal to the Pharisee’s complaint makes it clear that the washing of hands is really unimportant.  That they are focusing on the law invented by men, but not as concerned about obeying the actual commands of God.  Because of this focus, he applies to them a prophecy of Isaiah (29:13) which speaks of false obedience.  Jesus is saying that the scribes are giving the appearance of obeying God, but in reality doing nothing like that.  For this reason, he calls them “hypocrites”—which in Greek literally means “those less than able to discern” and could be translated "actors" or “pretenders.”  Those who seem to do one thing, but in reality is doing another.

We all have traditions that are essential to our spiritual life.  Perhaps it is listening to worship music, perhaps it is reading a particular translation, perhaps it is attending a certain church, maybe it is meditating in a forest. Maybe it is reading the psalms. Maybe it is attending a certain AA meeting. These traditions are good for us, and often they are healthy for our spirit.  

Some of our traditions are so close to our heart that we cannot imagine living without them.  In fact, we wonder how others live without these habits, they are so close to the heart of our spiritual health. We might even claim that they can't be spiritually healthy without our traditions or practices.

We're wrong.  Jesus is just setting us straight on that.

As important as our traditions are, that doesn't mean that someone else isn't just as spiritually healthy without them.  And if we look at someone else's traditions and say, "That's not godly," we're probably wrong.  The great thing about God is that he scattered many different traditions to meet the spiritual needs of many different people.  What seems offensive to us may be essential to another person.  What is at the heart of our spiritual life may be death to another person, as hard it is to believe.

This is not to say that there aren't some practices that are better than others, or that some practices are spiritually deadly.  But we are so attune to our culture and habits that it is probably better to stop and seriously consider before we judge another person's practice, or insist that they take part in ours.