The Bible or Tradition?

1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and
2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed.
3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?"

vs 1-5 What command in the Bible were the Disciples violating? What was the source for this rabbinical teaching? Name some Christian traditions that aren’t found in the Bible.

Grant points out, "The devout Jewish practice of hand washing before meals, for purposes not of cleanliness but of consecration, was a ceremonial elaboration.... But like other pious ceremonies, the practice could become a mere form, a rigid regulation enforced by appeal to the authority of ‘the tradition of the elders.’ ...it was one of those relatively new scribal-Pharisaic regulations which worked hardship upon the ordinary rank and file of working people...."

The Pharisees had elevated tradition to the same category as scripture. There is nothing wrong with tradition. All churches have traditions, and many of the things we do each Sunday morning are based indirectly on centuries-old traditions. The problem comes when we claim these traditions are as important as God’s word. This is what the Pharisees were doing.

6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

vs 6 Where in Isaiah is this verse found? How do Christians today "honor God with our lips but our heart is from him"?

Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29:13, "The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." Many Christians today fall into the trap of striving to honor God through their works while neglecting the more important spiritual matters of love, forgiveness, and compassion. If we love God, we will want to do good works. But if good works is our religion, we may find ourselves feeling cold and empty.

7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.

vs 7 What Christian teachings have you observed that are "but rules taught by men"? Why do we humans want to add to God’s word with our own ideas?

It seems people want to add rules to God’s commands. We can never leave the simple gospel message alone. We can have good church teachings and even reasonable church teachings. But if these teachings violate God’s word, our religion is in vain. Our traditions and teachings must be solidly based on the Bible. When we start adding to God’s word or subtracting from it, we may create a doctrine that people feel comfortable with, and we may please many people, but we won’t please God.

This is why I think Christians need to be careful that they don’t try to label fashion, trends, or fads which are not addressed in the Bible as "sinful." They may be disgusting, and we may not like them, but I’m sure people from 1000 years ago would be shocked by what they would see in our churches today. Does that make us less Christian than they were? Cultures change, fashions change, music styles change. God’s attitude toward sin and immorality is what doesn’t change. Let’s be careful that we don’t allow our traditions in style or dress to be equal with God’s condemnation of murder and adultery.

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!"

vs 8-9 Which should be more important in the church – God’s word or our tradition? What place should tradition have in the church? How can we guard against making tradition more important than God’s word?

We must be careful to not confuse what’s really important to God with what’s important to us. Obviously whether we worship in a barn or in a stained-glass chapel is irrelevant to God. However, it is important to many. But let us not elevate our opinions of a worship setting to the same respect we should have for God’s word. Tradition gives us an important way to relate our worship to God. Tradition is important and beneficial. But tradition is not unchangeable.

There comes a time when traditions change. In the 1500’s Martin Luther did something radical – he introduced congregational singing in the churches. Now it’s an accepted part of every Sunday morning, but at one time it caused the old traditions to be changed. Almost every church in America has a variety of musical instruments – whether organ, piano, guitar, drums. But in the 1800’s there was a great debate about musical instruments – many claiming that the organ was from the devil! Tradition changed. I can remember as a teenager a dear church pianist explaining to me how God only uses major keys for church music. Music written in a minor key was not blessed by God! How tradition has changed.

When it comes to God’s word, let us be immovable, but when it comes to tradition, let us be flexible.

10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),
12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

vs 10-13 How were the Pharisees getting around God’s commandment? What was the end result of this teaching? Why do you think they would come up with this teaching?

What was happening here was the Pharisees had figured out a way they could get around taking care of their parents. Instead of helping their parents, they claimed that the help they would have given was a gift to God and therefore they had no responsibility to their parents. It is hard for us to relate to this kind of thinking. But the religious leaders assuaged their guilt with this tradition. Jesus rightly condemns them for breaking one of the ten commandments. I’m sure they felt very self-righteous and were probably quite shocked by this statement. It had not occurred to them that they were not honoring their parents. Greed had caused them to invent the tradition and ignore God’s intention.

Luccock comments, "...a narrow and intense devotion to religion conceived as a logical system, as a set of rules, rather than as ‘the life of God in the soul of man’ and a way of love, one to another – that such narrowness and intensity can have a hardening effect on character. ... When concern for people and their rights and welfare drops out, leaving only a concern for code and regulation, as empty of love as a textbook on geometry, religion can be a dehumanizing thing."

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
15 Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ "

vs 14-16 What does Jesus mean by this parable? (If you don’t understand this parable, read on. The Disciples didn’t either!)

Jesus is speaking of spiritual matters. Americans seem to be obsessed by materialism – those outward things such as food, garment, shelter, good looks. But Jesus teaches that those outward things are not important. What’s important is what goes on in the heart.

17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?
19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

vs 17-19 Why do you think the Disciples would have had a difficult time understanding this saying? How did Jesus have to teach Peter this lesson again in the Book of Acts?

The Disciples had been raised to believe that certain foods were unclean. In a day with little understanding of germs and small consideration for sanitation, these rules were essential to good health. But since they had been ingrained in them since birth, it was hard for them to see what Jesus was talking about. They were probably thinking about clean and unclean foods.

In fact Peter may not have learned this lesson even after Jesus explained it to them. In Acts 10:9-15 we find that Peter receives a vision about eating unclean animals. God sends him this vision so he will receive the visitors from the Roman centurion. It seems Peter didn’t quite understand the full implication of Jesus’ teaching here in Mark., and had to be taught again.

20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’
21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’"

vs 20-23 Name the unclean things Jesus is referring to? What are the causes of these "unclean" things? How do we get rid of them? How does knowing this make us better servants of Christ?

Jesus identifies what is really unclean – evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. Notice none of these evils have anything to do with our appearance, the way we dress, the way we look. They are all from the heart.

We only have hope of getting victory over these truly "unclean’ things by committing our heart to Christ. And then every day we must allow the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the temptation to do all these awful things.

In this section Jesus is training his disciples how to be servants. When we realize what is truly important to God, we lose our spiritual arrogance. When we honestly examine ourselves, we realize how unholy we really are. This causes us to be humble and better able to understand others who are struggling with their own temptations.

Footnotes:



	Mark 7:1-23