Chapter 7
In the social world of first century Galilee, Jewish traditions about defilement and purity were deeply embedded in the social fabric of the day.
All Jews washed their hands before eating according to the traditions of the elders—all Jews that is except the disciples of Jesus. In this scene Jesus’ disciples are eating without washing their hands first, even when they came from public places full of sick people (6:53-56).
Their conduct was not only unsanitary, it was also anti-Jewish, because the traditions of purity were the basis of a larger idea, that the Jewish people would be the one “clean” people whose worship was acceptable to God. According to their worldview, every other culture was full of people who defiled themselves every day.
The Pharisees wanted to know why Jesus’ disciples were not observing the purity codes. Jesus had already done several things that undermined this cultural mandate. He had touched a leper and ate with social outcasts. He went into common places touching and being touched by groups of unclean people who were restored and healed in ways that were outside the social and cultural norms of Judaism.
The same is true of us today. As Christians, we will often find ourselves at odds with today’s social and cultural norms. The social and cultural norms may change from generation to generation but God’s Word, as well as our actions in light of His Word, cannot change with the shifting winds of culture.
In the larger sense, the problem was not whether Jesus and His disciples ate with unwashed hands. The real problem was the very presence of Jesus, who would not conform to the boundaries of conduct and power prescribed by cultural expectations of the day.
This is also a challenge for us as well. Our culture would try and demand that we capitulate to its conduct and power. We must be reminded of Paul in Romans 12:2 where he admonishes us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
V.5 The Pharisees were steeped in the traditions of their elders, but its authority was not supported by Scripture. The question indirectly challenged Jesus, for as the disciples’ teacher He was the one held responsible for their actions.
This was not the first time His opponents had pressed Him to conform to the cultural rules of the day. In this case Jesus did not answer His critics with a miracle or a parable. He spoke directly to them, calling them “hypocrites.”
A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something he or she is not. The term originally referred to actors who wore masks on stage as they played different characters. By Jesus referring to the Pharisees as hypocrites, He was saying that they were not genuine in their faith; they were merely playing a part for all to see.
Might this occur today? How and where?
V.6-7 The Pharisees and scribes criticized Jesus for allowing His disciples to violate the traditions of purity. Jesus’ response, on the other hand, was a broad attack on the traditions of the elders. Here, Jesus did not directly answer their question. Instead, He addressed two more significant issues: (1) the superiority of God’s law over man-made tradition (v.6-13) and (2) the difference between ceremonial and true moral defilement (v.14-23).
Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13. Their mouths and lips spoke the right things, but their inner nature was far from God. It is a facade.
The Pharisees Jesus spoke to were guilty of lifting their traditions above the commandments of God, while claiming they were guides to those who were seeking God.
V.9-13 it is no accident that Jesus chose to denounce the practice of declaring something corban. The question about His disciples implied that He was undermining the social structure of Judah. His counter-charge implied that the Pharisees and scribes were undermining not only the structure of the family but the covenant between God and Israel. Corban means “dedicated to God,” A wealthy man who was angry with his parents could declare part or all of his accumulations corban and escape the legal requirement that he care for them. Jesus charged that this practice negated the commandment to honor one’s father and mother.
This was a very serious matter, but corban was only the tip of the iceberg. His comment in 7:13 was not an afterthought; it was a categorical denunciation. Corban did not represent a small, isolated problem: “And many such things you do.” This was an indictment of the entire social and religious system (Kernaghan, 136).
V.14 Jesus calls the multitude of people who had been following Him to come closer so He could use this as a teaching moment. Jesus makes a bold public statement that would have enlightened His listeners and infuriated the Pharisees.
It is not the things that enter us that make us defiled, but rather the things that are already in us that make their way out that defile us, the things of the heart.
Matt.15:11, 16-20 “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man”…“Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
As a person thinks in his heart, so is he. How do thoughts get into the heart? Through the eyes, ears, and other senses. The raw material of our actions is what we take into our mind and allow to settle in our heart.
David said, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11). The other side is seen in Ps. 101:3, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.” Paul pictured the believer as “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
How has this spoken to you today?
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