Mark 7

1 Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.

2 They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean - that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

3 (For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;

4 nor do they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they follow many other rules which they have received, such as the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds. )

5 So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"

6 Jesus answered them, "How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: ¹ "These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.

7 It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!'

8 "You put aside God's command and obey human teachings."

9 And Jesus continued, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.

10 For Moses commanded, "Respect your father and your mother,' and, "If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.' ²

11 But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, "This is Corban' (which means, it belongs to God),

12 they are excused from helping their father or mother.

13 In this way the teaching you pass on to others cancels out the word of God. And there are many other things like this that you do."

14 Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

15 There is nothing that goes into you from the outside which can make you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean."

17 When he left the crowd and went into the house, his disciples asked him to explain this saying.

18 "You are no more intelligent than the others," Jesus said to them. "Don't you understand? Nothing that goes into you from the outside can really make you unclean,

19 because it does not go into your heart but into your stomach and then goes on out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are fit to be eaten.)

20 And he went on to say, "It is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.

21 For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,

22 commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly -

23 all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean."

24 Then Jesus left and went away to the territory near the city of Tyre. He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden.

25 A woman, whose daughter had an evil spirit in her, heard about Jesus and came to him at once and fell at his feet.

26 The woman was a Gentile, born in the region of Phoenicia in Syria. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

27 But Jesus answered, "Let us first feed the children. It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

28 "Sir," she answered, "even the dogs under the table eat the children's leftovers!"

29 So Jesus said to her, "Because of that answer, go back home, where you will find that the demon has gone out of your daughter!"

30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed; the demon had indeed gone out of her.

31 Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre and went on through Sidon to Lake Galilee, going by way of the territory of the Ten Towns.

32 Some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged Jesus to place his hands on him.

33 So Jesus took him off alone, away from the crowd, put his fingers in the man's ears, spat, and touched the man's tongue.

34 Then Jesus looked up to heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, ["Ephphatha,"] which means, "Open up!"

35 At once the man was able to hear, his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble.

36 Then Jesus ordered the people not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they told it.

37 And all who heard were completely amazed. "How well he does everything!" they exclaimed. "He even causes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!"

Mark 7 Commentary

Chapter 7

The traditions of the elders. (1-13) What defiles the man. (14-23) The woman of Canaan's daughter cured. (24-30) Christ restores a man to hearing and speech. (31-37)

Verses 1-13 One great design of Christ's coming was, to set aside the ceremonial law; and to make way for this, he rejects the ceremonies men added to the law of God's making. Those clean hands and that pure heart which Christ bestows on his disciples, and requires of them, are very different from the outward and superstitious forms of Pharisees of every age. Jesus reproves them for rejecting the commandment of God. It is clear that it is the duty of children, if their parents are poor, to relieve them as far as they are able; and if children deserve to die that curse their parents, much more those that starve them. But if a man conformed to the traditions of the Pharisees, they found a device to free him from the claim of this duty.

Verses 14-23 Our wicked thoughts and affections, words and actions, defile us, and these only. As a corrupt fountain sends forth corrupt streams, so does a corrupt heart send forth corrupt reasonings, corrupt appetites and passions, and all the wicked words and actions that come from them. A spiritual understanding of the law of God, and a sense of the evil of sin, will cause a man to seek for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within.

Verses 24-30 Christ never put any from him that fell at his feet, which a poor trembling soul may do. As she was a good woman, so a good mother. This sent her to Christ. His saying, Let the children first be filled, shows that there was mercy for the Gentiles, and not far off. She spoke, not as making light of the mercy, but magnifying the abundance of miraculous cures among the Jews, in comparison with which a single cure was but as a crumb. Thus, while proud Pharisees are left by the blessed Saviour, he manifests his compassion to poor humbled sinners, who look to him for children's bread. He still goes about to seek and save the lost.

Verses 31-37 Here is a cure of one that was deaf and dumb. Those who brought this poor man to Christ, besought him to observe the case, and put forth his power. Our Lord used more outward actions in the doing of this cure than usual. These were only signs of Christ's power to cure the man, to encourage his faith, and theirs that brought him. Though we find great variety in the cases and manner of relief of those who applied to Christ, yet all obtained the relief they sought. Thus it still is in the great concerns of our souls.

Cross References

• 1. 7.6, 7Isaiah 29.13 (LXX).
• 2. 7.10 aExodus 20.12;Deuteronomy 5.16; bExodus 21.17;Leviticus 20.9.

Footnotes

• [a]. anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first; [or] anything after they come from the market unless they wash themselves first.
• [b]. [Some manuscripts do not have] and beds.
• [c]. [Some manuscripts add verse 16:] Listen, then, if you have ears! [(see 4.23).]