Mark 7
McGeeCHAPTER 7THEME: Pharisees denounced; Syrophoenician’s demon-possessed daughter; deaf and dumb of DecapolisThis chapter carries out the theme of Mark, which is to show that the Lord Jesus is God’s Servant who is doing God’s will. He is a man of action and He is doing the things that would appeal to the Roman of that day and to any person who is interested in getting a job done. That is the wonderful thing about Him as a Savior; He can save, and He is the only One who can. The intertestamental period is that time between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament in which many changes took place. It was one of the most eventful periods in the history of the nation Israel. During the time of their captivity and in this period between the Testaments after they had returned to the land, there was a development of new groups and parties not mentioned in the Old Testament. There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, and the Herodians. Scribesthe scribes had a good beginning. Evidently Ezra was a scribe and the founder of that group. They were the professional expounders of the Law. However, by the time of our Lord they had become “hair-splitters” and were more concerned with the letter of the Law than with the spirit of the Law. That, I think, is one of the great problems we have today. There has been put into the interpretation of the laws in this country this “hair-splitting” method and the philosophical interpretation that was never intended in the law. I believe that is what has come out of certain law schools in the East. As a result, our legal system and our political system are in the mess we find today. That is what had happened to religion in our Lord’s day. Phariseesthe Pharisees also had a good beginning. They arose to defend the Jewish way of life against all foreign influences. They were strict legalists, they believed in the Old Testament, and they were nationalists in politics. They wanted to bring in the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God) upon the earth. Sadduceesthe Sadducees were made up of the wealthy and socially-minded. They had no spiritual depth. They wanted to get rid of tradition. They rejected the supernatural and were opposed to the Pharisees who accepted the supernatural and accepted the Old Testament. They were closely akin to the Greek Epicureans. Herodiansthe Herodians were a party in the days of Jesus who arose as political opportunists. They were strictly a party to try to keep the Herods on the throne. This background will help us understand the incident before us.
Mark 7:1
PHARISEES DENOUNCEDYou will notice that our Lord has made such an impression that these men are drawn out of Jerusalem, and they have come to the place where He is ministering in Galilee. Also they will come across the Jordan River into the area of the Decapolis, that is, the area of ten cities. We’ll see that in a moment.
Mark 7:2
Let us stop to look at this for just a moment because it is quite interesting. There is a crisis arising about the person of Jesus. Back in Mar_6:30 we read that the apostles had gathered themselves around Jesus and had told Him all the things that they had done after He had sent them out. They had come back and reported to Him. Now also the scribes and the Pharisees are coming out and gathering about Him. There is bound to be a confrontation here between the Lord Jesus and His followers and the Pharisees and their followers. One group is made up of His friends, His followers, who love Him. The second group is comprised of His enemies, who seek to destroy Him. It has always been this way. There are two groups: those who trust Him and those who reject Him. To be personal, which group are you in? That makes all the difference in the world. The question is not whether you are a member of a church or have been through some ceremony; rather it is what is your relationship to Jesus Christ? That is the all-important question. Now this obviously was a special delegation from Jerusalem. They had been sent to Galilee to spy on Jesus. They were the intellectual opponents sent to trap the Lord Jesus. The way that our Lord defended Himself is to me another proof of His deity"…Never man spake like this man" was the testimony of His enemies (Joh_7:46). Of course, it wasn’t difficult for them to find some fault because the Lord Jesus entirely ignored their traditions. Now what was their tradition? They were not simply criticizing the disciples because of a breach of etiquette, but for the fact that the Lord was not having them keep the traditions, which were their interpretations of the Old Testament. Mark explains for the benefit of the Romans that this custom of ceremonial cleansing was peculiar to Israel; and it was. God had given to Israel a great deal of information about cleansing. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Leviticus, there is a great deal of instruction about cleansing. It was very important because God was teaching them the great lesson that a sinner had to be cleansed before he could enjoy fellowship with a holy God. But the Pharisees had built a great tradition that was supposed to be an interpretation of the Mosaic Law, and some of them even contended that Moses had given them the traditions when he gave them the Law. In time, these traditions became the interpretation of the Law, and eventually there was a wide departure in the traditions from what had been the intent of the Law. In our passage here, some of this tradition is given in detail. They would ceremonially wash the cups and pots and brasen vessels and the tables. All of this was a burdensome sort of thing and was an entirely outward performance. The word used for “washing” is baptism. They baptized cups, pots, religious objects, even tables. Now this is a religion with a vengeance, friend, and you can see that one could get so involved in going through a ritual of religion that one would forget the whole purposewhich is that a person must be made right with God before a relationship can be established. We find the same kind of thing today. So many people will argue points of religion when it is the person of Jesus Christ that should be our concern. Now let’s go on:
Mark 7:5
This accusation which they lodge against His disciples was, of course, really an accusation against Him personally, because these were His followers. Now notice how our Lord deals with themand it isn’t tenderly at all!
Mark 7:6
I wouldn’t say that is gentle. A hypocrite is one who is just acting a part; it is a word used for actors on the stage. They were going through a religious ritual without experiencing any reality at all. The lips and the heart might as well have belonged to two separate persons. They had no more heart experience than a wooden dummy upon the knee of a ventriloquist. My friend, there are a lot of people who are just going through a ritual in church today. The heart must be involved if it is genuine. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom_10:9-10). Oh, people get involved today in creeds and church confessions and public worship, dress and even “separation.” All of this can become a matter of tradition and not a direct and personal dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 7:7
Worship is empty when the rules of men are substituted for the Word of God. So now we come to the very heart of the matter.
Mark 7:8
Here was the whole issue. They were substituting traditions of men for the Word of God. A tradition may actually be good and may be established for a very good reason. However, it becomes evil when it is a substitute for the Word of God in later generations. And that is what has happened to these people here. I think this is the reason that so many denominations today have departed from the Word of God. They first substituted a creed for the Word of God. Then they began to substitute the word of men and the thinking of men and their own little ritual and their own little denomination. Before long, the Word of God went out the window. This has happened again and again.
Mark 7:10
Now He is giving them an example of what they were doing. Moses had said in the Law that they were to honor their father and their mother. But their tradition permitted them to escape the responsibility to their parents. If a man did not want to help his father and mother when they became old and needy, he would dedicate his possessions to the priest in the temple and it was called Corban which means “a gift.” At the man’s death, his estate went to the temple and he was relieved of his responsibility to his parents.
Mark 7:12
He’s saying that this tradition was pernicious and it directly contradicted the intent of the Law of God, which was to honor one’s father and mother. There is a great danger today that people will give to any group or organization that has appealed to them. There are literally thousands of Christian organizations that have men out in the field, combing the highways and byways to find people to give to their organization. There is a grave danger in that. There are certain personal responsibilities that people must fulfill. As we go down the passage before us we see He goes into detail.
Mark 7:14
He is differentiating that which is external and that which is internal and is pointing out what is real. He shows here that religion is not something that you can rub on as you do a salve. It is not something that you eat or refrain from eating. You’ll notice then that He went into the house and his disciples came to Him and asked Him about the parable.
Mark 7:18
Let’s really take a look at what does come out of man:
Mark 7:21
I’ll guarantee you that if you will buy the morning paper wherever you live and will read it through, you will find that this is what came out of man during the last twenty-four hours: Evil thoughts Adulteries and fornicationsunlawful sex relations Murders (anger is also murder) Thefts (loafing on the job is also stealing) Covetousnessgrasping and greediness for material things and positions Wickednessall the acts that are intended to hurt people Deceitthe pretense that people put up Lasciviousnesssensuality Evil eyeenvy Blasphemyslander against God or man Pride (God hates this above all else) Foolishnessacts done without any respect for God or man These all come out of the heart of man and that is why the Lord Jesus says, “Ye must be born again.”
Mark 7:24
SYROPHOENICIAN’S DEMON-POSSESSED DAUGHTERWe have had this incident before. You will recall that our Lord stepped out of His own land and met this woman who was a Greek and a citizen of Tyre. She came to Jesus in faith. And the word daughter here is the diminutive form which means she was just a little girl. At first, our Lord’s treatment of her may appear brutal, but you will remember that when we studied this in the Gospel of Matthew, we showed the dispensational interpretation which is actually the revelation of a tremendous truth. And I think here something else tremendous is also revealed and that is the accuracy of the four Gospels.
This woman is an outstanding example of faith in one who lives outside His land. And our Lord answered her petition. One wonders whether He came to that area for the specific purpose of answering the faith of this woman.
Mark 7:31
DEAF AND DUMB OF DECAPOLISJesus leaves Tyre and Sidon, and goes through Decapolis on His way to the Sea of Galilee. Decapolis translated is “ten cities,” a district containing ten cities, mostly on the east of the Jordan, in the area near the Sea of Galilee. The list includes the following: Scythopolis-102Gerasa-102Dion-102Hippos-102Gadara-102Canatha-102Pella-102Rephana-102Philadelphia-102DamascusI was at the ruins of Gerasa or Jerish, as it is called today. I thought, My, this is one of the places where my Lord came and taught. He had a tremendous ministry in this area. The crowds came into those cities.
Mark 7:32
All the things He did were done as aids to faith. The whole thought here reveals the fact that the condition of this man caused Jesus to use this method. His ears were first opened so that he could hear. After this it apparently was useless to try to get the crowd to remain silent. It was this miracle which brought about a great impetus in enlarging the ministry of Jesus, which had already broken all bounds. At this time pressure upon Jesus was humanly unbearable. In spite of the pressure put upon Jesus, the burdens of the multitudes, the tensions of the times, the long busy days, and the weakness of the body, the crowd could say, “He hath done all things well.” We just add our word of agreement to this and say a hearty amen. Friend, He still does all things well today!