Daily Lesson for Monday 5th of August 2024

Jesus’ words in this passage have been a conundrum for many as they ponder their relationship to the teachings of Leviticus 11:1-47 regarding clean and unclean foods. Is Jesus doing away with such distinctions? Are Seventh-day Adventists mistaken in teaching that church members who eat meat are to eat it only from the clean-animal list?

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

First, it would be odd for Jesus suddenly to dismiss Mosaic instructions in Mark 7:14-19 when He had just defended Moses against tradition in Mark 7:6-13. Second, the very tradition that the Pharisees were promoting does not have a basis in Old Testament teaching; the food laws, in contrast, do. Third, what Mark 7:19 means when it says that Jesus cleanses all food is not that the food laws are abolished but instead that the tradition of touch contamination that the Pharisees had made was invalid. This, for example, is that false notion that if you could be contaminated by coming in contact with Gentiles, then you also could be contaminated through contact with food that they had touched.

In Mark 7:19, Jesus notes that food does not go into the heart but into the stomach and then passes out through the intestinal tract. But in Mark 7:21-23, He notes that evil comes from inside the heart, from the center of who a person is. He presents a list of vices that start from evil thoughts but then end in evil actions.

When the reference to the fifth commandment in Mark 7:10 is included with the vice list, every commandment of the second table of the Decalogue is there. Further, Jesus refers to vain worship, in Mark 7:7, the breaking of what is at the heart of the first four commands of the Decalogue. Thus, Jesus stands as a defender of the Law of God throughout this passage.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-clean-hands-or-clean-heart/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 4th of August 2024

One can imagine children studying this passage in Sabbath School and coming home to tell their mothers that they do not have to wash their hands before eating because Jesus said so. However, this story is not about hygiene.

Image © Darrel Tank at Goodsalt.com

In Jesus’ day, many people in that land were very concerned with ritual purity. During the time between the testaments, the idea of washing hands in order to remain ritually pure was extended to common people, even though these rules originally applied only to the priests in the Old Testament (Exodus 30:17-21). It is in keeping with this concept that the religious leaders complain to Jesus about His disciples.

Jesus does not directly answer the question asked of Him. Instead, He defends His disciples in a two-pronged response. First, He quotes Isaiah’s strong words rebuking a nation that honors God in word but whose heart is far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). The quotation from Isaiah continues with the condemnation of putting human traditions in the place of divine commands.

The second part of Jesus’ reply plays off the Isaiah quotation. The Lord cites the command of God to honor one’s parents (Exodus 20:12)— that is, to take care of them in their old age—and contrasts this with a religious tradition where one could give something to God (a gift, corban), use it for oneself, but deny its use to elderly parents in need. One can just imagine the encounter: “I am sorry, father. I would love to help you, but I gave the money to the temple.”

It is this type of hypocrisy that Jesus attacks uncompromisingly. They have placed human tradition above the Word of God and, in so doing, have sinned.

So what was the answer to the Pharisees’ question? The response of Jesus implies that He does not find convincing their insistence on hand purification as necessary to be in accordance with the will of God. Instead, His response clearly supports the commandments of the Law over against human tradition. (See also Mark 1:44; Mark 7:10-13; Mark 10:3-8; and Mark 12:26,29-31.)

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-human-traditions-versus-gods-commands/