Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem confront Jesus over the disciples’ unwashed hands. Jesus charges them with setting aside the commandment of God for the tradition of men. He declares that what defiles a person comes from the heart, not from food. In the region of Tyre a Syrophoenician woman obtains deliverance for her daughter. A deaf man with a speech impediment is healed in the Decapolis.
1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.) 5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?”
6 He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.” 9 He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban,”’” that is to say, given to God, 12 “then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, 13 making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”
14 He called all the multitude to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
17 When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him, 19 because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?” 20 He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
24 From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice. 25 For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly. 36 He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”
Source: ebible.org
The confrontation is not about hygiene. It is about authority. Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem accuse the disciples of eating with unwashed hands — that is, of failing to keep the tradition of the elders. Jesus answers with Isaiah: this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. The charge is precise. They set aside the commandment of God in order to hold tightly to human tradition. The Corban practice is the example: a man could dedicate property to God by vow and thereby refuse support to his parents, nullifying the fifth commandment. The word of God is made void by the tradition that was handed down. The old order’s religious system had inverted the priority. Human rules stood where divine command should have stood. That inversion is not a minor abuse. It is the character of an administration that has already drifted from the God it claims to serve.
Jesus summons the crowd and relocates the entire category of defilement. Nothing from outside going into a person can defile him. What proceeds from the heart does. Food enters the stomach and is eliminated; it never reaches the heart. Evil thoughts, adulteries, murders, thefts, and the rest come from within. Mark adds the decisive note: thus he declared all foods clean. The ceremonial food laws that marked Israel’s covenantal distinctiveness under Moses are set aside by the word of the Son. Purity is no longer a matter of external boundary. It is a matter of the heart. The system that regulated clean and unclean by what entered the mouth is dismantled at its root. What remains is the exposure of the heart and the need for a cleansing the food laws could never provide.
Jesus withdraws into the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Syrophoenician woman — a Greek, a Gentile — falls at his feet and begs for her daughter. He speaks of the children’s bread and the dogs. She answers: even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. For that saying the demon is gone. The exchange is not a refusal of mercy. It is the ordering of the mission: to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. The woman does not dispute the order. She claims the crumbs. Her faith receives what the tradition-bound leadership in Jerusalem would not ask for. The Kingdom’s reach is already wider than the purity system allowed. The same chapter that voids the food laws grants deliverance to a Gentile household. The wall is being removed in the presence of the One who will later be preached as peace to those who were far off.
In the Decapolis a deaf man with a speech impediment is brought. Jesus takes him aside, puts his fingers in his ears, touches his tongue, looks to heaven, sighs, and says, “Ephphatha!” — Be opened. Immediately the ears are opened and the tongue is released. The people are astonished: he has done all things well; he makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak. The healing is more than physical restoration. It is a sign of the age in which the deaf hear the Good News and the mute proclaim it. The same Lord who declared all foods clean and received Gentile faith opens the channels of hearing and speech. The old order’s silence is being broken. The word goes out.
Mark 7 is a turning point in the Gospel’s exposure of the Mosaic administration’s ceremonial boundary. Tradition has replaced commandment. External purity has replaced the heart. The food laws are set aside by Jesus’ word. Gentile faith is honored. The deaf hear and the mute speak. None of this is deferred to a distant future. It is enacted in the ministry of the Son of Man as he moves toward Jerusalem and the cross. The generation that held the tradition of the elders is the generation that will see the temple fall. The purity system that marked Israel’s separation under the old covenant is already being dismantled by the One who will establish the New Covenant in his blood. What remains is not a revised set of washings and food rules, but a people cleansed in heart, drawn from Jew and Gentile, whose ears are open and whose tongues proclaim that he has done all things well.
All foods are clean. Defilement is a matter of the heart. Gentile faith has already received the crumbs that become a feast. We live free from the traditions that voided the word of God. The ears that were closed are opened; the tongue that was bound is loosed. The purity that the old order sought by washings and boundaries is given by the One who cleanses the heart and brings near those who were far off.
Where do human traditions still compete with the word of God, and where does the heart still need the cleansing that food laws and external boundaries could never provide?