The Heart of the problem

Intro:

Secular:

Washing hands - kids before dinner, Corona Virus

benefit of longer washing with soap

Personal:

Have you been washing your hands more recently?

Have you been telling others to wash their hands?

What if the problem is deeper than soap and water can clean?

Problem - not corona virus OR germs

Problem of sinfulness and broken relationship with God

Biblical:

Mark writes to the church in 40-50 AD

Teaching the readers about the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God

Mark has shown us Jesus’ authority from God, authority to heal physically and forgive spiritually

Mark has demonstrated the singularity of hope found only in Jesus

Jesus demonstrates his power over nature (calming the sea), unclean spirits (demoniac), unclean woman (bleeding healed), unclean girl (dead)

Jesus has been rejected by his hometown

Subject:

What does Jesus teach us about the problem of being clean or unclean?

Textual:

misunderstood (1-6)

Pharisees (last mentioned in planning to destroy Jesus)

prioritized obedience to the law and traditions (oral Mishnah)

Jesus disciples were eating with unwashed hands - defiled = unclean

This caused a problem because all Jews wash properly before eating

tradition of the elders - Mishnah = oral tradition held by Pharisees as level with the Torah

OT requirements for washing

priests before entering the tabernacle , also ,

all people who touched bodily discharge

come from the marketplace - eat only after washing

come from the marketplace - eat only after washing

many other traditions

washing cups / pots / vessels / couches

Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus

“Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Jesus responds:

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written…” quotes Isaiah 29.13

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”

Like actors in a play, the Pharisees were playing a role and pretending

Very passionate in their devotion

Devoted to the Mishnah not the Torah

priorities (7-13)

“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”

“Rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition”

Example

Moses - 5th commandment

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

“Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016),

Corban - dedicated offering to God/the temple

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

protected and irreversible

Progression of departing priority of the Law of God

leave, reject, make void (nullify, unlawful)

Jesus declares that this is only one example of many similar problems of priority

within (14-23)

Jesus presents a parable (puzzle) that many will hear but lack understanding

“Hear me, all of you, and understand:”

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him”

“but the things that come out of a person are what defile him”

Greater clarity given to the disciples

ask him about the parable

“Then are you also without understanding?”

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Recovering the True Intent of the Law (7:1–23)

The disciples are like a dog looking at the pointed finger of its master rather than the object to which the finger points

Jesus explains the puzzling implications

“Whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him”

“since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”

Mark informs his readers the implications of this teaching

Jesus declared all foods clean

“What comes out of a person is what defiles him”

“from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts...”

evil thoughts

Plural = repeated actions

sexual immorality (πορνεῖαι)

theft (κλοπαί)

murder (φόνοι)

adultery (μοιχεῖαι)

coveting (πλεονεξίαι)

wickedness (πονηρίαι)

Singular = attitude

deceit (δόλος)

sensuality (ἀσέλγεια)

envy (ὀφθαλμὸς)

slander (βλασφημία)

pride (ὑπερηφανία)

foolishness (ἀφροσύνη)

“All these evils come from within, and they defile a person”

What does Jesus teach us about the problem of being clean or unclean?

The problem is misunderstood (1-6)

Pharisees observed the disciples as unclean but they failed to understand what this term was intended to mean

Pharisees taught all the Jewish people this misrepresented application of clean and unclean

They question why the disciples fail to follow the Mishnah (oral implications of the Torah)

Amelia Badelia

The problem is a matter of priorities (7-13)

Law of God was progressively replaced by the law of man

leave, reject, make void (nullify, unlawful)

leave, reject, make void (nullify, unlawful)

Corban was an example of Mishnah law replacing Torah

aimed directly at the 10 commandments - clear laws of God

Religious obligations and opportunities allowed the people to deny/neglect their God given obligations

Called to honor parents - 5th commandment

HOW ARE WE DOING WITH THAT ONE?

WHAT IS OUR MODERN DAY CORBAN? WHAT HAVE WE ESTABLISHED THAT CLEARS OF OUR GOD GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY?

Pine Wood Derby Car

The problem comes from within (14-23)

not unclean by what goes in but by what comes out of our heart

declared all food clean - issue for the Church at the time of Mark’s Gospel

actions come from within

attitudes come from within

what does it mean to be defiled today? What should be our reaction to discovering that we are unclean?

FOR SALE - House hunting