Lessons in Hypocrisy (Part 1): Mark 7:1-13

Introduce

Last week we discussedJesus healing. Now Mark shows us some of the things that Jesus taught, particularly in response to the Pharisees. He tells us one critical aspect of the godly life by answering a key question: what must we avoid doing?

Body

Retell

To begin with we see the hypocrites harass: 1-5

The Pharisees with some scribes come to Jesus from Jerusalem. Jesus has had several altercations with the Pharisees and scribes earlier in Mark.

Scribes were the respected transcribers and teachers of the Old Testament Scriptures in Jesus’ day.

The Pharisees were pious Jewish laypeople who had great cultural influence. They followed the written Law of God and the oral traditions that sought to explain and expand it.

Like the lions they prowled around, hoping that in catching Jesus in error they might metaphorically devour him. They spot what they thought might do it. His disciples ate with hands that weren’t washed. This was a popular tradition in Jesus’s day. However, the Scriptures required no such thing. Only priest were required to wash before entering the temple and those who touched something unclean. Mark tells us that the Pharisees and all the Jews of hold to such traditions, washing their hands before eating and after visiting the market place. They, also, required washing cups, pots, coper vessels, and dining couches.

In spotting Jesus’s disciples not washing their hands before eating, the lions thought they found the moment in which they might devour him. They thought they might be able to make him lose influence and silence him. The asked him a question, “Why do your disciple snot walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” How would Jesus respond? Would the harassment of hypocrites silence the savior?

Next, we see the hypocrites harangued: 6-13

To be harangued is to be lectured at length in a critical manner. It is an accurate description of what happens in our passage today and next week. Jesus is not scared off or silenced by the question. In fact, Jesus silences the askers of them. Jesus called the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites, quoting the prophet of Isaiah. Hypocrites are those who attempts hides their real intentions under a mask of simulated virtue. In this instance, they are those who honor God outwardly, but not inwardly. They make up rules and force them upon others as if they were God’s rules. In fact, they not only make up rules, but rules that contradict the Law of God.

Jesus gives one of what could be many examples. He quotes the fifth commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” He also quotes the civil punishment of those who revile parents given to Israel in the judicial law, namely death. God ordained authorities were to be honored, the most fundamental God ordained authority are parents. Jesus points at that the Pharisees tradition allowed a man to tell his parents, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban.”

The declaration of Corban is the dedication of one’s property to God. Thus, it cannot be used for profane uses. If one declares his estate as Corban, he might make use of it, while withholding it from his parents. Jesus points out that such a declaration was rarely reversed, and in respect to withholding one’s estate from parents there is a violation of the fifth commandment, or as Jesus said, “thus making void the word of God by your tradition you have handed down. And many such things they do.”

Transition

We have seen the hypocrites harass and harangued. This passage along with the one next week provide us with guidance on how the Godly life is not to be lived. How do you please God? On thing you can do is don’t make up the rules. That is the big idea I want to drive home: don’t make up rules. Consider now two additional things that follow making up rules.

Apply

1. Don’t make up rules and force them upon others: 1-5

Clothes, vehicles, money, job

Making self the standard

Know that your identity and worth is defined by who you are before God

Adopt a confession and practice the regulative principle of worship

2. Don’t make up rules and forget God’s holy commands: 6-13

Know the Word

Memorize the ten commandments

Conclusion

You have seen hypocrites harass and harangued. You have been commanded:

1. don’t make up the rules and force them upon others.

2. don’t make up the rules and forget God’s holy commands

Run to Christ.

We all make up rules and force them upon others

We all make up rules and forget God’s holy commands

Thus, let us turn from our sins and trust in the Son of God, who paid the penalty of sin in His death and secured eternal life by His perfect obedience. He know the Word of God and He gives us a new heart to obey it.

Christian/Vista Baptist

Unbeliever