Mark 7:1–8 ESV

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 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.) 5 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?” 6 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; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

Mark 7:14–15 ESV

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 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.”

Mark 7:20–23 ESV

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

That Which Defiles

Throughout the centuries of human existence, it has been assumed that when we do various acts of piety that we will somehow curry favor with higher powers and secure a desired blessing. But when we solely focus on piety, that is the things we do in public or even private to be favorable to the masses and to God, the actions of the heart and our ethic can go by the wayside. It becomes about public performance rather than a sincere desire to be holy.

1. Our traditions do not make us holy and righteous. (vs. 1-8)

Colossians 2:8 ESV

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

The issue in our passage today is about the ritual hand washing that had been ascribed to the priests. The Pharisees had picked this up as part of their oral tradition and based it on what we read in Exodus 19:6, “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Jesus responds to the Pharisees criticism of his disciples’ piety with the words of Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,” What had happened over the centuries is that the Jewish people had developed what would amount to precedent and case law in our legal system. If you ever listen to a Supreme Court nominee hearing, outside of all the antics and performance given by politicians, one of the primary lines of questioning revolves around case law and the precedent that set by past cases that build upon future legal decisions. The Jews had developed this same kind of case law when it came to the Law of Moses. This was all oral tradition at the time of Jesus but within a few decades, this was written out into what we call the Midrash today. These oral traditions and interpretations of the Law were what Jesus fought against with the scribes and Pharisees.

We can do the same thing in our lives as Christians. We take the message of the gospel and try to add to it in order for us to claim what will be holy and what will not. We do not take scripture for what it says. We fall into the trap of thinking that our performance before God will somehow make him love us more or help us to be closer to him. Yes, our spiritual lives are dependent on piety in prayer and worship both public and private. But doing those things is not about making God happy or showing how worthy we are. We cannot be made captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition. Those traditions and the things that we do cannot make us holy and righteous. They cannot gain us favor with God so that God will do things for us. God does not heal us or bless us or even allow tragedy based on our personal performance. It is all based according to his will and sovereignty. We worship and pray and study scripture and do that which is good and Christlike solely because we are obedient to God’s command and he is worthy of our worship and praise because he is God alone.

2. The condition of our hearts makes us unrighteous. (vs. 14-15)

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

The laws of purity constituted an essential feature in Israel’s piety. In Leviticus 11:43-44, we read, “You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.” If a Jewish person was to come into contact with anything that was unclean, it made him or her unable and unfit to worship a holy God.

But here, Jesus’ response to the Pharisees on the purity issues is a part of the prophetic tradition of Israel in which ritual is subordinate to ethics. The what is not so important as the why. Jesus’ statement in verse 15 is to be understood in conformity to the pattern found in Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea is not saying that the sacrificial system should be done away with; he insists that the ritual be subordinate to the ethics. So, what Jesus is meaning is this: “What really defiles a person is not what they eat but what they do.”

Our unrighteousness is not something that is based on what we take in. It is based on what comes out. What comes out of us in the deepest places of our hearts is sin and unrighteousness. The heart is the place of deceit. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” What defiles us is the fact that we are sinful. Paul says in Romans 5:12-13 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.” It is our nature to sin. It is the default condition of our heart. It is the place where unrighteousness reigns.

3. Our sin nature produces actions that are contrary to God’s holiness. (vs. 20-23)

Romans 1:32 ESV

32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The source of our sinful behavior is our heart. It is our nature. This comes all the way from the beginning with Adam and Even when they sinned in the Garden. This sin nature has been passed down through all humanity and as I said earlier is the default position of our hearts. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa, developed what we call the doctrine of original sin. It is the understanding that because of sin the image of God that is within all humanity is damaged and distorted. Our will and nature is to go against God and his plan for us. We want to do what we want to do and follow the desires and feelings that we have in our flesh. As human beings, this is what comes natural to us.

We see the evidence of this throughout scripture. Paul says in Romans 1:32 “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Because the image of God is in us, we know that our sin is not right, but we ignore that and follow the sin nature anyway. David says in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Our nature is contrary to the holiness of God. Our unrighteousness stands in complete contrast to the very character of God. Jesus uses twelve different vices that we find in other places in the New Testament, most famously in Galatians 5:19-21 “19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

If sin is the default nature of humanity, it means that we must have some way of being delivered from sin. We are not able to do it on our own. If we are defiled from the very beginning of life, there has to be a way of setting us free from this sin nature and into the holiness of God. The only way that happens is through the work of Christ on the cross. Nothing unholy can stand before God, and there is nothing that we can do that can lead us into righteousness and holiness. It is through Jesus that we have righteousness and overcome the penalty and power of sin.

Paul says in Romans 5:15-17 “15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

When we are in Christ, we are no longer defiled by sin. We are made righteous and holy, not by the works that we do, but by the grace that is given to us in Jesus Christ. It only by his grace and his work that we can stand before a holy God in all righteousness. This free gift of grace that has been given to us is available to all who trust and believe. Paul says in Romans 10:9-10 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” This is the only action that can make us holy. All the rituals and formulas that we try to follow will never make us holy. It is only the free gift of grace given by the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord that brings salvation to us.