Mark 7:1-15
Introduction:
Different people have different ideas about dirt and cleanness, even, materially speaking. What one person considers dirty, another may think of as merely natural, or even attractive. Children especially seem attracted to what their elders call dirt. One idea is that dirt is simply matter out of place - but this idea only changes the question from what is dirt to where is its proper place.
Nevertheless, while disagreeing on detailed definition, most people do agree that some things are dirty and others clean. Now, when the terms dirty (or unclean, or defiled) and clean are used in. a spiritual rather than a material sense, we find again that people generally agree that there is a difference, but disagree on what the difference is.
So in this lesson it is quite apparent that Jesus and the established religious leaders of the people had very different ideas of what constitutes spiritual defilement. If we wish to, be clean in God's sight, we had better adopt His definition of defilement, rather than the ideas of the religious leaders of this world. Human notions must eventually give way to a higher judgment.
Mark 7:1-15 can be outlined for study as follows: 1. Finding Fault, vv. 1-5 a. Carping critics, 1, 2 b. Meaningless customs, 3, 4 c. Indirect attack, 5 2. Trashy Traditions, 6-13 a. Direct attack, 6, 7 b. Neglecting God's law, 8 c. Rejecting God's law, 9 d. Example of subterfuge, 10-13 3. Appeal to the People, 14 4. Dirt that Defiles, 15 Notes on the Printed Text:
Finding Fault, vv. 1-5. It is always easy for people to "find fault," whether there is any fault there to find or not. And such is the depraved state of fallen humanity that they generally find the most fault with those who have the least.
Carping Critics, 1, 3. Envious at the sensational success of a Teacher far greater than themselves, Pharisees and scribes were looking for something to pick at. If they could find nothing wrong with the Teacher, perhaps they could pick at His disciples. And of course, in their jealousy for their own teachings, they would be looking especially for differences of doctrine or practice among the followers of Jesus.
The word "defiled" in verse 2 means simply "common." It does not at all imply that the disciples' hands were physically dirty, but merely that they omitted the ceremonial washings that the Jews considered so important.
Meaningless Customs, 3, 4. For the benefit of Gentile readers, Mark explains that the Jews had many customs received by tradition, including the custom of frequent washings. There was no suggestion that any law of God had been broken. Generation after generation of rabbis had added their own interpretations and regulations to the ceremonial washings prescribed in God's law. Not the meaningful commands of scripture, but the meaningless customs of men, had become their chief concern.
Indirect Attack, 5. Beginning their attack indirectly, the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus a loaded question. In context and no doubt in tone it was in effect an accusation, but it was cunningly worded to leave room for excuses and accommodation if Jesus had chosen to avoid an open break wllh tradition.
Trashy Traditions, 6-13. Traditions axe simply customs or teachings handed down from one generation to another. They may be good or bad, or a mixture of both. It is good to keep good traditions; it is good to get rid of bad ones. Judaism had accumulated a tremendous store of trashy traditions that needed to be cleared out of the way to make room for living faith in the living God, and Jesus did not shrink from the task.
Direct Attack, 6, 7. When conflict is vitally necessary, there come times when direct attack is the only wise course. Forbearance and conciliation are virtues in some situations, but when the foe is deadly and merciless it is folly to try to avoid the issue. Human preferences, desires, and ambitions may be properly subject to compromise; but the only possible result of an attempted compromise between good and evil is evil.
Jesus therefore boldly called His enemies what they were: hypocrites. We ought not to throw epithets around promiscuously, especially since we are generally not competent to judge the character and motives of men's hearts; but Jesus always knew what was in men, and sometimes He found it necessary to call them what they were.
Since "God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), all other worship (or rather pretended worship) is in vain.
Neglecting God's Law, 8. Overemphasis on human traditions led naturally to the "laying aside" of the commandments of God. At first the law of God would not be disputed, but merely dismissed from the minds of the people as they fixed their attention on keeping their traditions, take some preachers today, they neglected the Bible while they studied their commentaries.
Rejecting God's Law, 9. Only a short step leads from neglecting the commandments of God to rejecting them. We can always find a commentator who will quite reasonably explain to us that God did not mean exactly what He said when He gave us a commandment that we choose not to obey. Many of these traditional rationalizations are hoary with age, going all the way back to some so-called "Fathers," but stopping short of the scripture.
Example ef Subterfuge, 10-13. Generalizations, if recognized as true, furnish stronger argument than particular instances which could be exceptional. Yet a generalization that might be disputed is greatly strengthened by a specific example. Jesus stated an example to stop the mouths of His adversaries.
To honor father and mother includes providing for their needs in poverty or old age. Covetous rabbis, however, taught that men could evade this responsibility merely by telling the parents they had promised the money as a gift, no doubt to the temple or synagogue. Naturally it was easier to persuade men to make gifts to the synagogue at the expense of their parents than at their own expense. Of course this tradition had the practical effect of nullifying the fifth commandment.
Moreover, this example of subterfuge was only one of "many such like things" done by the Jews in disobedience to the laws of God. Keeping traditions provided convenient excuses for disobeying' God.
Appeal to the People, 14. If the religious leaders would not accept the truth because of their vested interest in error, there remained the possibility that some of the common people might be brought to receive the truth that makes free. Individual souls ("every one of you") are individually responsible to God to hear and understand His word, and cannot excuse themselves on the ground of being misled. They are wrong in following leaders when those leaders are wrong. Jesus therefore appealed to the people, that each or any one might hear and understand.
Dirt that Defiles, 15. Briefly and plainly stated, spiritual defilement is from within, not from without. It is not his environment that makes a man dirty, spiritually speaking; it is his spewing forth of the moral filth of his own wicked heart. It is man's own sins that defile him in the sight of God.
Some of these sins are listed in verses 21-23 of Mark 7: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
Key Verse: "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." - Mark 7:7.
It is greatly to be feared that much of what men call the worship of God is in vain, being not at all acceptable to God. Jesus made it very clear that any religion teaching the commandments of men instead of the word of God makes worship a vain, rash, useless thing. Even professed worship of the true God is to no good purpose when corrupted by the doctrines of men. ============== [From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, February 21, 1969. pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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