Untitled Sermon

Bible Passage: Mark 7:1-13

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

BODY

Mark 7:1 ESV

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,

There is no clear indication of where Jesus is at this point. It would almost seem that this is story Mark chooses to tell within The Story if you will.

But nevertheless, wherever Jesus is, The Pharisees are in a full force effort to discredit Jesus and find a way to kill Him so He can no longer perpetuate any doctrine that is opposed to their own.

So they are now sending in the big guns from the city of Jerusalem.

Mark 7:2–5 ESV

they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Lots going on here and in order to truly capture the significance of this story I need to give you some context and background.

The pharisees and scribes have taken offense by Jesus’ disciples not washing their hands prior to eating.

What they are referring to here is not the same as going to the bathroom and putting some soap on your hands to get the germs off. This was a ceremonial washing done to be spiritually clean before consuming food.

The Jewish system is ran by what is called the Torah (the law) or what is called throughout the scripture as the law of Moses.

These laws are what God gave to His people to set them apart from the rest of the nations and make them distinctly His people.

They include regulations on cleanliness, outward appearance, dietary restrictions and other things as well.

It was the role of the Scribes to study the law of God and interpret how it was to be followed.

In the case of this story in Mark 7, there had arisen in Jewish culture a practice prescribed by the scribes to wash prior to eating.

They said this was necessary because priests had to follow specific process of cleanliness prior to performing priestly duties like sacrifice as well as eating.

So to be safe rather than sorry they extended this to all jewish people because you know you could have bumped into someone who touched a dead body in the market or a samaritan.

None of these washings referred to in Mark 7 are required by common people in God’s law other than to just be clean.

But the scribes demand that the people follow their interpretations of Gods word rather than what He said.

These extra laws and writings of the scribes and elders became so extensive that at around the year 200AD they were compiled into a book called the Mishna.

This eventually got bigger and bigger and turned into what we know today as the Talmud.

These laws of the elders are held in higher regard than scripture.

With regard to the rulings of the rebellious elder the mishna states: There is greater stringency with regard to traditional rabbinic interpretations of the Torah than with regard to matters of Torah. - Mishna Sanhedrin 11:3

This is why they hated Jesus. Because He didn’t follow their empty and hypocritical traditions. His concern was about peoples hearts.

The jewish people had turned obedience to God and worship of God into a game of do’s and don’t’s, adding heaps of religiosity in order to worship their own actions.

God hates this…

Mark 7:6–9 ESV

And he said to 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; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah to remind this apostate and godless people that God hates this vain and empty worship. And He will always hate it.

Isaiah 1:13–17 “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

What God desires and loves are hearts that are glad to worship Him not ones who are caught up in religion and ritual.

The other problem was that these laws and rituals created by the elders also gave them license to sin and not follow Gods word.

Mark 7:10–13 ESV

For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Jesus gives them a very practical example pf how their hypocritical laws lead them into sin.

You have an obligation to honor and provide for your parents according to the law. This can also mean financially.

The elders created a teaching that money intended for things things like caring for parents or the poor can be classified as Corban

This money that was designated as “Corban” was to be set aside as a sacrificial offering. The scribes and elders also said that corban could be designated and then kept if so desired. this often led to individuals calling their money corban and keeping it for themselves.

This type of dishonesty is where following the traditions of man leads. You begin to manipulate your religious system in such a way that what once was worship becomes idolatry. No longer is it about worshipping God but a worship of self.