Reading: Mark 7:1-37
Context: What specific traditions are the Pharisees concerned about, and why do they matter to them?
In this episode, the Pharisees were concerned about the state of the hands. The tradition they observed was ensuring that hands were washed before partaking of food. This wasn’t for hygiene reasons; this was for the symbolism it held for purification. It had become a standard of what made them distinct and holy, and so observing this ritual was very, very important to them and not to do so was tantamount to engaging in the unclean and unholy. As is often the case with traditions, the honourable intentions of the deed had morphed into something that held people captive to issues that were not that important. It is a sobering reminder to check some of the acts and rituals that I take part in to see if they’re done for the right reasons, with the right heart to maintain right relations with God and others. I must check this about myself, or I could be in a similar boat as these Pharisees, which, as Jesus would point out, is a sinking boat.
And here’s the thing — the traditions themselves weren’t inherently wicked. There’s nothing wrong with washing your hands. The problem was the elevation of the tradition to the point where it became a measuring stick for righteousness. When the ritual becomes the religion, you’re in dangerous territory. The Pharisees had effectively constructed a second law alongside the Law of Moses — what Mark identifies as the tradition of the elders — and this tradition carried the same weight, if not more, in their religious circles. That’s a significant drift from the heart of what God intended. It’s the kind of drift that happens gradually, over generations, where each addition seemed reasonable at the time, until before long the whole thing is unrecognisable from what God originally called His people to. I think about how that can happen in any community of faith, including mine, including yours. We add layers. We establish norms. We start policing those norms. And somewhere in all of that, the actual presence and person of God can get squeezed right out of the room. The challenge then is to keep returning to the Word, to keep asking the raw and honest question — is this from God, or is this from us?
Content: How does Jesus contrast external religious observance with internal heart conditions?
Pivotal to this understanding is how Jesus refers to what Isaiah said that although our external actions can give the impression of desiring God, the state of the heart can actually be far from God. And that relates likewise to the issue of what defiles a person. Being defiled is what the Pharisees accused the disciples of. To be defiled is a dreadful condition. It is to be rendered in a state where you stink cos you’ve been mad dirty. Who wants to get anything from someone who stinks and is dirty? Jesus agrees that being defiled is a big deal. Jesus agrees that people shouldn’t be defiled. Then Jesus highlights that it’s the state of the heart that determines whether they’re clean or not, because that’s where all the bad stuff is coming from. It’s not what we’re putting in us in terms of the food we eat or the state of our hands. The issue is the state of the heart and the level of hypocrisy that surrounds that, stinks to Jesus. As it should stink to us when we consider the state of our hearts without Christ and how much we need Him to clean us from the inside, so what emerges from our hearts will be pleasing to God, rather than stinking.
What makes Jesus’ use of Isaiah so powerful here is that He’s not introducing a new argument — He’s pointing them back to something they should already have known. Isaiah 29:13 was in their scrolls. They had read it. They had studied it. And yet here they are, doing the very thing the prophet warned against — honouring with the lips while the heart is elsewhere. That’s the uncomfortable indictment. Jesus isn’t catching them out with something obscure. He’s holding a mirror up and saying, look, you already knew this was possible, and yet here you are.
The list Jesus gives of what comes out of the heart — evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness — that’s not a small list. That’s a comprehensive inventory of everything that breaks the relationship with God and with others. And it all starts in the heart. Every single one of those things begins as a thought, a disposition, an inclination. This is why the work of the Holy Spirit on the inside is not a luxury in the Christian life; it is absolutely essential. You can wash your hands a thousand times and still be carrying every one of those things in your heart. That’s the sobering reality Jesus is drawing out here. The grace of God doesn’t just cover the external — it transforms the internal. And that transformation is what genuine discipleship is all about.
Concept: Jesus declares all foods clean, but what deeper principle is He establishing about purity?
Now we’re talking – what a wonderful question! The issue Jesus is addressing is understanding what’s at stake. We don’t have to be overly concerned with being contaminated by what we put in us. We have to be far more concerned with what’s coming out of us. Rather than being fussy about the food we’re eating as if calories will get us to the Kingdom, we gotta be concerned that our hearts are pure. And funnily enough, there’s something to be said for attention to the state of heart that would lead us to be mindful of what we eat anyway. We just won’t be hypocrites about it and bash people over the head for not following the same rituals we observe.
The deeper principle here is that Jesus is reorienting the entire framework of how His followers should understand purity. Under the old covenant, the food laws served a purpose — they set Israel apart as a distinct people, marking out the boundaries of who belonged and what was acceptable. But now Jesus is signalling something of profound importance. Purity is a matter of the heart, and the heart is where God does His deepest and most necessary work.
This also has enormous implications for how the early church would navigate its mission to the Gentiles — and Mark’s original readers would have understood that. The declaration that all foods are clean was a statement about the Gospel’s reach. It’s pointing forward to the Syrophoenician woman who appears just a few verses later, to Peter’s vision in Acts 10, to the whole Gentile mission. What Jesus says about food carries the seeds of what Paul unpacks fully — that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The barrier isn’t in what you eat or the rituals you observe. The access point is the heart, and that heart is available to anyone who comes to Jesus. That’s the deeper principle, and it is absolutely magnificent.
Conclusions: How do you examine your own motivations to ensure your religious practices flow from genuine heart devotion?
This is a sensational question, right? There’s been some good ones today. What helps me in the examination of motivations is to check where I’m at before I start. I can come carrying in some baggage from the day or other parts of life. I can come in with certain unresolved issues. So I endeavour to be mindful of that and take action where I can. Then in terms of the actual engagement in the practices, I endeavour to be up front with God to do whatever I’m doing wholeheartedly. I don’t want to sing a song just because it’s familiar, I want to sing it because of the state of my heart’s love for God. I don’t want to go through the motions and often that might mean taking a step back from joining in with what everyone else might be doing. I am very aware of my capacity for self-delusion and hypocrisy, I ask God to bring that up when I’m guilty of it as I ask Him to help me so I don’t miss the joy in moments and don’t get overly heavily thoughtful on a matter. I know His Spirit brings liberty and I want to exercise that as I worship Him and engage with Him through the different religious rituals that currently make up my individual and corporate interactions with Him.
I also find it helpful to be alert to the moments when religious practice produces pride rather than gratitude. If I come away from a time of prayer or worship feeling spiritually superior to someone else, that’s a bad sign. Genuine heart devotion produces humility, wonder, and a deeper hunger for God — not a mark to think I’m doing anything worthy of me getting points with God. And I find that when the heart is truly engaged, there’s a freshness to even the most familiar practices. The psalm I’ve read a hundred times suddenly says something new. The hymn I’ve sung since childhood lands differently. That freshness is a gift, and I’ve learned to receive it as a sign that God is present and the heart is in the right place.
Trusting and depending on Jesus gives me as much strength to rest as it does to work. For that I am grateful, and for that I endeavour to grow to learn to trust Him more and more.
Next time:
Episode Thirteen: Faith Beyond Boundaries
Reading – Mark 8:1-21
Where others make judgments on external factors, Jesus knows that the place of judgment starts from within, and His grace and mercy make a difference there. This is another reason to get the Word In so we can get the Word Out.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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