12: Breaking Human Tradition (Mark 7:1 – 23)

Complaints of the Pharisees have been accumulated against Jesus. They accused Jesus’ disciples of eating the bread with unwashed hands, which is ritually unclean.

πŸ‘‰ Read Mark 7:1 - 23

Q1. Why did Jesus say Pharisees were hypocrites? (v6-7)

ANS: What their lips say doesn’t accord with what their hearts desire. They claim to worship God but teach human traditions.


Q2. (8 – 13) Jesus points out how they ignore God’s commands by their traditions. If they said to their parents, ‘anything that you would reive from me is (             ), which is a gift for God,’ they thought they were exempt from the command, (                        ), for serving God has a higher priority than serving parents. 

ANS: corban, honor your father and your mother.

Note that their traditions were not of idolatry but of serving God. The elders’ tradition was how to resolve conflict between serving God and serving parents. 

Surely, God should be our highest priority. However, as we try to put God first, we might end up putting ourselves first, seeking self-satisfaction. It is because God is invisible. Therefore, it is very important to follow God’s commands.

What shall we do when two commands of God conflict in a certain situation?

1. Distinguish whether it is God's command or your will of devotion. Explicit commands, like 'honor your parents,' should have priority over voluntary devotion, 'I will offer $1000 for missionary.'

2. Humbly seek God’s guidance. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide you in a controversial situation. The elders’ traditions took over the Holy Spirit's task and led the people in the wrong direction.



Q3. Why does nothing outside defile a man? 

ANS: Food doesn’t enter his heart, but his stomach, and goes out. 

Surely, food doesn’t defile that person.

However, anything that enters our hearts could impact us. Anything that comes from the worldly culture would affect our value system. 



Q4. Why does what comes out of a person defile that man?

ANS: It comes from our hearts.

Here, Jesus clarifies that the target of His ministry is our hearts, not merely our behaviors. 

By stating, ‘Nothing outside can defile a man,’ Jesus challenged Mosaic ritual law. It upset the religious leaders. Here, Jesus Himself proclaims He is greater than Moses, who can re-initiate the purity law, which is not of food but of heart.




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