12: The tradition of the elders – Mark 7:1-37

7Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,
² they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;
⁴ and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵ So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me; 
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ 
⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” 

⁹ Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ ¹¹ But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God)— ¹² then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.” 

¹⁴ Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” 

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, ¹⁹ since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. ²¹ For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, ²² adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

²⁴ From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, ²⁵ but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
³² They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³ He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
³⁵ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” NRSV

Get into the Word

1. Who comes to see Jesus as this chapter opens? Why do they come? What do they talk about? What do they think Jesus should do? Why is this so important to them? Who else do they talk about?

2. How does Jesus respond to their questions? Who does he quote? Why do you think Jesus chose this quotation? What point is Jesus making? How do you suppose the others felt about his response?

3. What does Jesus talk about next? Why do you think he raises this subject? What point is Jesus making now? How do you think the others felt about this accusation?

4. What does Jesus say about eating? How does Jesus explain to his disciples? Why doesn’t food harm a person? How would the Jews react to this assertion? How do you feel about it?

5. What does make a person unclean? How does Jesus explain this point?

6. Where does Jesus go after this incident? Who comes up to him? Why? What does she do and say? How does Jesus respond to her? Why do you think he does this? How does the woman respond. What does Jesus say and do next?

7. Where does Jesus go next? Who does he meet? What is his problem? What does Jesus do with the man? How does he “heal” him? What is the result? Why do you think Jesus used this approach? How did the crowd respond to Jesus’ actions?

Get Personal

How do you respond to other peoples’ traditions or rituals that might be different than yours? Are there some traditions in your faith practice that might be unnecessary or even counterproductive? How has God helped you understand the relationship among faith, purity and actions?

7:1-23. Tradition of the elders — Matthew’s version does not explain the tradition. Matthew also reports that Jesus tells the disciples, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both fall into a pit.
Luke does not include this discussion with the Pharisees, but does report an incident when a Pharisee noted that Jesus did not wash his hands before eating. Jesus rebukes him for being careful to clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness, [Luke 11:39-40]. Jesus also rebukes them for tithing small things but neglecting, justice and the love of God [11:42].
7:2. Hand washing — this rule is not part of the Mosaic Law. Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13.

7:11. Corban — the Law did provide fordedicating something to the Lord which then prohibited its use for any other purpose, but evidently some Jews would use this as an excuse to not care for their elderly parents.
7:16. Some manuscripts include: Let anyone with ears to hear listen.
7:24-30. Faith of a Gentile woman — Matthew calls the woman a “Canaanite,” [Mt 15:21-28]. He reports that Jesus did not respond at first, and then saying, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, before the comment about dogs. Jesus tells the woman he granted her request because of her faith. Luke does not include this story. Check 1 Kings 7:17-24 and 2 Kings 4:14-37 for other stories of persistent mothers.
7:31-37. Healing the deaf-mute — neither Matthew nor Luke include this incident.