Jesus and Tradition

The Gospel of Mark, 2024

Mark 7:1-23.

ETS: Jesus taught that human tradition should not be equated with or elevated above the commands of God.

ESS: We ought to follow

OSS: [Evangelistic] {I want the hearers to confess their legalism to God and trust in the finished work of Jesus.}

PQ:

What are the characteristics of this encounter between the Pharisees, the disciples, the crowd, and Jesus?

UW: Characteristics

Intro.: [AGS]: “Let me introduce you to a prospective church member. He will attend every service, including special events. He will go on mission trips with a passion to convert the heathen. He will tithe, sing in the choir, read his Bible daily, and memorize Scripture. He will be happy to pray in corporate worship. He is thoroughly orthodox in his theology. He is an inerrantist and believes in heaven and hell. He never gets drunk, is not addicted to porn, never uses profanity, is a family man, loves his country fervently, weeps on July 4, and votes the right way. His reputation in the community is stellar. If any man ever earned the right to go to heaven, it is this man. His religion is certainly something to admire. Sadly this is a man headed for hell. I have just introduced you to a twenty-first-century Pharisee! A Pharisee in the first century was not scorned as a legalist. No, he was looked up to as a model citizen and a person of piety and religion. Unfortunately Pharisees had, as Paul says, a “zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10:2). Amazingly we can have a passion for God yet not know God. We can be deceived, captured, and enslaved by the deadly lure of legalism. Tragically, those who have been raised in the church are the most susceptible to this deception. Our pride in our religious rituals, church practices, and cultural traditions blind us to both our great sinfulness and the great Savior who alone can rescue us from our sin.” (Daniel Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, 149-150); C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity alluded to the Pharisee as a person full of human pride, in exact opposition to God. He commented that never will you hear a person who is not a self-proclaiming Christian claim, “I’ve not done...” He suggested it is the pridefulness of humans that causes a person to claim they have not done certain things to make them feel better about themselves. The issue: Human pride is in exact opposition to God, thinking more of the self than God Himself thinks of the person. [TS]: Jesus deals with the pridefulness of the Pharisees in his encounter with them recorded in this text. They had asserted their traditions, practices, and teachings (interpretations of the law) to be more important than the actual commands of God. Jesus corrected their view to assert that human tradition should never be equated with nor elevated above the commands of God. [RS]: Have you found yourself in this predicament? Often times, the challenge of cultural Christianity is that we follow the cultural practices of the church and the tradition of our “Christian” family much closer than we do Jesus. We spend our time, energy, and devotion to fitting the mold of those who have gone before us rather than investing in a relationship with Jesus Himself. It is not mere information that saves a person. It is a transformed heart by faith in Jesus Christ resulting in an intimate relationship with Jesus that saves a person. As some would say, “Many people miss Heaven by 18 inches— the distance between their brain and heart.” (Unknown). The simple reality: We need a relationship with Jesus more than we need information about Jesus.

TS: Let’s examine together the characteristics of this encounter, now:

The first characteristic of this encounter is the judgement of the Pharisees and scribes. [vv. 1-5]

The Pharisees noticed the disciples doing something different that what they practiced and taught.

Different does not equal wrong.

Yet, for the Pharisees, this was a point of judgement.

The second characteristic of this encounter is the rebuke of Jesus directed towards the Pharisees and scribes. [vv. 5-13]

Notice that Jesus called them on their double standard: They loved to claim expertise on the law, but they did not honor the law by honoring the God who authored the law. A hypocrite is one who is a pretender or actor, literally translated as “one who judged from under the cover of a mask,” thus, assuming an identity and a character which he was not.” (Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, 144.)

“Jesus makes no reference to the conduct of His disciples. Instead, He exposes the heart of the matter: is the true source of spiritual authority “tradition of men,” or is it the “Word of God?” What will determine how you think and live your life?…If we have all the right boxes checked, we’re good! But lists are so easy to check off. Examining our hearts isn’t. Can you provide a scriptural basis for what you believe and do? Are you a text-driven or tradition-driven Christian? The difference in crucial.” (Akin, 152)

The rebuke of Jesus to the Pharisees is as follows:

Hypocrites or religious pretenders [6]

Holding to human tradition, abandoning the command of God (law) [7-8]

Invalidating the commands of God [9]

Nullify or make void (reject) the word of God [13]

Notice Jesus’ use of Old Testament passages and examples to support His rebuke against the Pharisees:

He verifies the Prophet Isaiah’s words from Isaiah 29:13.

He demonstrates their issue of hypocrisy quoting from the law—Ex. 20:12, Dt. 5:16, Ex. 21:17 and Lev. 20:9 but then highlights their teaching— a Hebrew teaching that they could devote all material possessions (namely monetary possessions) to the temple (devoted offering to God) and thus, not care for their aging parents— an obvious contradiction to the teaching to honor their parents, established in the law. Notice, though, they did this in the name of something good, even serving the Lord by supposedly devoting this money to the Lord, while forsaking an important duty of theirs given by the Lord. “This allowed them to dishonor their parents by neglecting their needs, but they still feel good about it because it was done in service to God. ‘I serve God by disobeying His expressed command to honor my parents.’ What kind of logic is that?! Jesus tells them that kind of reasoning makes void the Word of God, sets up man-made traditions over God’s commands, and opens the door for many more such actions (Mk. 7:13).” (Akin, 154)

In Matthew 23:25-28 Jesus is recorded rebuking the scribes and Pharisees for these same reasons: “25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Notice, finally, the sequence or depth of which the Pharisees fell into this cycle: and you do many other similar things (13b)— the verb form, present tense, communicating “you continue doing” — the sequence of such an act— holding human commands and teachings more dear than commands of God; abandoning God’s word for the sake of clinging to human tradition; rejecting God’s word and making it void for our lives— all of these lead to a lifestyle and endless cycle of many similar things.

The third characteristic of this encounter is the instruction of Jesus to the crowd. [vv. 14-16]

The crowd likely was a general term, involving all the groups mentioned thus far and even more— the Pharisees, the disciples, Jesus, and others nearby who followed Jesus.

To all of them Jesus gave instruction:

Listen

Understand

Notice— the accusation of the disciples partaking of food while being unclean was still unaddressed with. If it were true that the teaching of ceremonial cleanness was valid, “the disciples of Jesus had, in their point of fact, eaten with unwashed hands, and therefore still stood condemned...” (R. Alan Cole, 188)

Thus, it was of such importance that all should hear what Jesus was about to say— so he summoned the crowd.

The statement of Jesus following his instruction to listen was “spiritually revolutionary! He is saying that the real issues of religious and spiritual faith are internal not external. Sin always proceeds from within. Food ends up in the stomach, but sin begins in the heart. Food is eaten, digested in the stomach, and expelled. Sin, however, remains in the heart and then produces all manner of defilement and death. The basic problem of fallen humanity is not what we do but who we are! Real filth, impurity, and defilement are inside and unseen, but eventually they will show themselves, and verses 21-23 make clear.” (Akin, 155)

Thus, this is a new principle established by Jesus, communicating the heart of the issue: how to honor God.

The heart of the issue was the issue of the heart.

Verse 16 is missing in most modern English translations that are dependent on the most reliable manuscripts.

The fourth characteristic of this encounter is the explanation of the instruction to the disciples. [vv. 17-23]

Not understanding what Jesus meant, the disciples took the opportunity to ask Jesus questions about the parable and principle established in verse 15, seeking explanation from Him.

Their lack of understanding was a disappointment to Jesus.

Yet, having been raised under the “Pharisaic theological tradition and outlook” it would not have been so easy for the disciples to just understand and grasp a statement of such manner of that which Jesus made.

Jesus, then, re-stated what he said in verse 15 in verses 18b-20.

Following that, Jesus explains some of the actions and attitudes that prove the sinfulness of the human heart. They are broken into two categories, the first seven being actions that are repeated, the second six being attitudes reflective of the person’s heart (Ross McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible, 1572):

Actions include the following:

Evil thoughts

Sexual immoralities

Thefts

Murders

Adulteries

Greed

Evil actions

Attitudes include the following:

Deceit

Self-indulgence

Envy

Slander

Pride

Foolishness.

Akin commented, “They are evidence of a corrupt heart. Inevitably, sin’s root will produce sin’s fruit.” (Akin, 155)

This categorization of such wickedness goes a step further than the law— for it, “like any other law codes, can take cognizance only of outward acts, not the mental attitudes which ultimately find expression in such acts.” (R. Alan Cole, 190)

Conclusive thoughts:

Akin wrote the following:

“There are basically only two approaches to religion, each of which can be summed up in a single word: do or done. The world says the problem is out there, and the solution is to answer the question, What can I do? The Bible says the problem is inside of us, and the answer is what Christ has done! You see, in legalism we think better of ourselves than Jesus does. But in salvation we think the same of ourselves as Jesus does: we are hopeless, helpless sinners in desperate need of a Savior.” (Akin, 157)

Jesus makes clear the issue: its an issue of the heart.

Responsive Questions:

[1] In lieu of the rebuking and teaching of Jesus, what can be said of your life?

Have you followed the tradition of man (either the cultural norm or something else) rather than the person of God, through Jesus Christ?

[2] Have you sought to prove your goodness to God and others through all you can do?

Remember, there are not enough “yes ma’am” or “yes sirs” or “pleases” to get you into Heaven. Your salvation is not dependent on how nice or good of a person you are.

[3] What hinders you today from really trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ?

You could never do enough or be good enough— after all, that is the whole point of Jesus in the text. Our heart is sinful; it’s not about what we do or have done; its about who we are. Apart from Jesus, we are totally sinful, separated from God, depraved and doomed. We need to be made new.

Consulted Resources:

[1]R. Alan Cole, Mark: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989).

[2]Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).

[3] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887).

[4] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885).

[5] Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014).

[6] Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017).