CLEANLINESS AND GODLINESS
Opening Prayer
Savior of the World, I want to honor you; in everything I think and do, help me to reflect you in ways that draw others to you.
Read MARK 7:1–23
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
That Which Defiles
7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, 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.[a])
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 defiled hands?”
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.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[d] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[e] 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their 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.”
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16] [f]
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 person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Footnotes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do your actions in everyday life show as much about your faith as what you say about it?Most parents teach their children to wash their hands before eating. This is because science tells us that certain bacteria we come into contact with can be dangerous
if consumed. For the Pharisees, the washing of hands before meals was for a different reason. They wanted to live as people set apart for God, to be ‘clean’ in a ceremonial, not hygienic, way. They even adopted some rituals prescribed for priests in the temple (see Exodus 30:19–21).
As their world was increasingly threatened by an alien (Hellenistic) culture, it was important to live out their distinctiveness in everyday life. So why would Jesus allow his disciples to adopt lower standards?
Jesus made it clear that ‘cleanliness’ is a matter of the heart (v. 21). The actions he cited (vv. 21, 22) could be avoided, but the attitudes he listed could easily contaminate. It’s relatively easy to keep yourself clean of adultery and murder, but greed, malice, deceit, and arrogance tend to get under the fingernails.
So, what does it mean for us to be ‘distinctive’ as Christians today? Do we focus on the right things? Are we different from society in ways that are attractive and point to God, or are we open to the accusation of being prudish, petty, and irrelevant?
Apply
Have you noticed anything ‘coming out of you’ (words, reactions) that suggest that there are things inside that need cleaning?
Closing prayer
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).
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