Mark 7:1-23

It seems that the greater the acclaim of the people in general was for Jesus, the more determined the scribes and Pharisees were to discredit him. On this occasion, they hit on the fact that Jesus did not instruct nor encourage the disciples to observe the Jewish traditions concerning ceremonial cleanliness.

The tradition of the elders insisted that the Jews should wash their hands frequently, nto simply as a matter of good health and physical cleanliness, but to avoid ceremonial contamination by the Gentiles. This tradition was an attempt to apply to the people generally a law that was originally given for the priests in handling of holy food.

In answering the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus dealt first of all with their traditions in general, and then specifically with the matter of ceremonial cleansing. In making the point that the traditions of the elders had lost most, if not all, of their spiritual significance, Jesus referred to a practice among the Jewish people that had resulted in nothing short of sheer hypocrisy.

Their traditions declared that a man must put God first in the stewardship of his possessions. In itself, this was as it should have been. But the traditions ruled that a man could declare a certain portion of his wealth to be Corban, that is, holy to God. Usually the money was given to the priests for the Temple services.

As time went on, however, many people used this tradition as an excuse to avoid fulfilling their just obligations. Instead of caring for his aged parents as the laws of Moses required, a man would say, I cannot afford to do this since I have designated my money as dedicated to God. In many cases, this claim was just a ruse, and the money was never givent o priests. In this fashion, the leaders had nullified the law of God (the laws of Moses) by claiming to adhere to the traditions of the elders. In this, they were no longer servants of God, but outright hypocrites (Mark 7:6).

Turning to the question of ceremonial defilement, Jesus set forth a spiritual principle that is as applicable to our own day as it was to the day in which it was uttered. He declared that defilement is not a physical matter; it is a matter of the heart. True religion is not ritual; it is righteousness. A man is spiritually clean only as he is clean in motive, in attitude, and in thought. Is this not the very core of our Christian faith? It is in accord with the words of Jesus, I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). It was at this very point that Jesus and the Pharisees stood poles apart.