Confronting The Religious Leaders – Mark 7
The religious leaders tried to correct the Lord Jesus. They said his disciples did not follow the religious traditions of washing hands before eating. The Lord Jesus turned the tables on them and corrected them for following the traditions of men rather than God's commandments.
The religious leaders worried because the followers of Jesus did not wash their hands. This was in violation of their religious tradition and so they attacked the Lord Jesus because he did not follow their religious rules.
The Lord called them hypocrites and quoted scripture to point out their hypocrisy.
He then went in-depth to explain the difference between external religion of self-worship and what really makes a man unclean.
The Lord Jesus said it wasn't what we eat or what we don't eat that has moral importance. What is important is what is in a person's heart. What comes out of a man's heart is what defiles the man.
By saying this the Lord Jesus declared all foods were clean for us to eat. It is important to remember this because most cults will eventually get into dietary rules and laws.
After the Lord Jesus corrected the religious leaders his disciples asked for an explanation. He explained that what a man ate did not make him unclean but what was in the heart made a man unclean. This showed the difference between external religion and a true relationship with God from the heart. Many people pretend to love God by acting religious but their heart is far away from God. This was a fulfillment of what Isaiah wrote: "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."
This issue was further expounded on by Paul in Romans chapter 14.
In contrast to the religious leaders who criticized the Lord Jesus there was a Gentile woman who came to him and asked for help. It appeared as though the Lord Jesus was tough on her but he still granted her request because she didn't give up. Perhaps this was also a lesson for his Jewish disciples that God loves Gentiles, too?
The Gentile woman asked for help from Jesus for her demon possessed daughter. Some might think that the Lord Jesus was cruel to the woman. Knowing the Lord Jesus from all of the gospel accounts and how many times he was moved by compassion, however, we know the Lord Jesus was not cruel to this woman. His response was designed to draw out faith and demonstrate to his Jewish disciples that Gentiles also have faith in God and receive salvation from God.
The Lord Jesus used creative ways to heal people. Here he used a little spit to heal a deaf-mute.
The Lord Jesus healed the deaf mute man. The Lord Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, then spit, and touched the man's tongue with his finger. In this way the man could hear and his tongue was loosed so he could speak.
The detail in the description of the Lord Jesus healing this man is further proof that this was a historical account of what the Lord Jesus did. All the scriptures are inspired by God and are true. We can put our complete trust and faith in these gospel accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ.
