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Mk. 7 1-13 Tradition of the Elders

MikeCarlo
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Mk. 7 1-13 Tradition of the Elders

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    1. Mark 7:1-13 The Tradition of the Elders

    2. 1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to Him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?”

    3. 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 precepts of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’;

    4. 11 but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”

    5. The Jerusalem Pharisees are attempting to find fault with Jesus and His disciples. In verse 3 and 4 Mark takes time to partially explain the traditional hand washing ceremony before meals. Remember his Gospel is being written for the Roman, Gentile world who would not know about Jewish traditions This hand washing, purification rite finds its origins in Ex. 30:19-20. 9 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die.

    6. The clean hands and feet represented a pure heart without which no one enters the presence of God. In time the purification rite was extended to all Jews. Clearly, there are hygienic benefits to hand washing in a society which doesn’t use knives, forks and spoons to eat. Hand-washing had become so exacting it even covered the amount of water, the position of the hands, and even the direction of the flowing water. The man-made law made cleansing and spirituality dependent upon attention to the detail not attention or devotion to God.

    7. You see a rite which was ordered by God for priests was perverted by man to “religiously control” the people. Using this God given rule, now perverted by man, the Pharisees lay a trap for Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled (v.5)?” If Jesus admonishes His disciples the Pharisees could claim they controlled Jesus’ behavior. If He ignores them they could claim that He willingly broke with the Jewish traditions, and thus they could claim He was a heretic.

    8. The Pharisees have now inferred that Jesus’ disciples are sinners because they eat with unwashed hands. As always, Jesus steps up to the plate and hits a homerun. We should remember the old saying, “Never cast a stone when you live in a glass house.” Jesus then says, “You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men (v. 8).” Jesus points out the fallacies in Corban, another man-made law. God gave us the 4th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you;” (Dt. 5:16).

    9. The man-made Corban tradition would allow a son to neglect his needy parents, even though he had the means to help them, if his money had been declared Corban (a “gift” for holy use, a gift to the Temple). Corban can be equated to the modern day “living trust” whereby money and possessions are willed to others upon the donor’s death but may be liquidated before death of the donor, in order to benefit the donor. In other words the Pharisees would allow a son to neglect his parent’s needs if they thought the Temple would benefit upon the son’s death, clearly a perversion of God’s law.

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