Mark 7:5-8 - Prophetic and Apostolic Tradition

Mark 7:5-8
⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
⁷ ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”

Message: Prophetic and Apostolic Tradition

Time: Mark's personal connection with Peter gave him the source material for this book. This book was composed probably between AD 57 and AD 59. It's a book that is on the move, leading to the cross. 39 times is the word 'immediately' used. Mark reveals Jesus as God's servant, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.

What the Lord is Saying:

Preface - In Mark 1:15 are the words from Jesus - The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus initially calls a few to be his disciples and later expands it to 12. He will send out his disciples to speak this message of the kingdom of God. Along the way, Jesus performs many different types of miracles: physical healings, spiritual healings such as forgiveness, power over nature. There is the clear testimony of His power throughout these pages as He shares his message with the masses but also intimately with his disciples showing always his reliance on God and the power of God in people's lives. Jesus has become very popular in this area as many are coming to him to experience Him, to experience God. At the beginning of Chapter 7, Mark pauses a moment in his gospel to bring attention to the Pharisees and their attack on Jesus for doing things that are contrary to the laws and traditions they have followed. Jesus permits his disciples to eat without clean hands. 

As I saw in my reading at the beginning of Chapter 7, the Pharisees are following Jesus around, perhaps checking on him, but also disapproving of his actions. Mark mentions how one attack was related to not following traditions, not necessarily the Moses law, but traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation through the rabbi's. I think of faiths that have traditions like these, such as abstaining from caffeine or other types of abstinence issues. Thus, the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” Jesus uses this as an opportunity, hopefully to go beyond the mere act of washing one's hands prior to eating, which isn't a bad thing and something that is still encouraged to this day, to focus on the "why" of what we do. 

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.

The concern by Jesus here is that the Pharisees are going to great lengths to purify themselves outwardly in hopes that this rituals would make themselves acceptable to God. If they kept enough rules, thus sacrificing one's own desires, then through the rule keeping they would be set apart as worth unto God. And this is chiefly what Jesus is counteracting in his message. Paul sums it up well in Romans 2:28-29 - A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. Obviously, at this point Romans had not yet been written so Jesus brings us back to the words of Isaiah in 29:13 which conveys the same idea that simply speaking or doing something outward is not what Jesus is looking for, but rather a change of heart. 

In addition, the commandment of God comes to us from the written word of God. It is this word that we must hold onto....and nothing else. Nothing overrides the written word of God.

Summary - Jesus is speaking of the importance of a heart change. I don't think he is diminishing the importance of keeping oneself clean, but he is emphasizing that we all need to make sure that we don't get caught up in rules and outward appearances and forget the real issue is the motive of one's own heart.

Promise: We must not change Scripture to make it fit our man-made traditions.

Prayer: Lord, Jesus, help me to focus on what is on the inside. Yes, the outward matters and I knew my best to exemplify in my life the best in my obedience, but overall, I need to focus on the inside. This is where evil resides and can outpour evil onto my life.