Thursday, July 24, 2025

Today's Scripture
Mark 7:1–23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God) — then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (NRSV)

Reflection

This is certainly not the first dispute Jesus has with the Pharisees in Mark, and it won’t be the last, but our passage today does get at the heart of what Jesus’ ongoing criticism of them has been throughout the Gospel. From Jesus’ perspective, the Pharisees seem to be prioritizing an outward observance of the Law over the inward spirit of it — more concerned with ritual cleanliness than the “clean heart” and “right spirit” that David speaks of in Psalm 51.

Regardless of whether the Pharisees’ concern over the disciples’ lack of handwashing was genuine or was being offered in bad faith, Jesus’ response has the potential to touch a nerve within all of us if we’re being honest with ourselves. Most, if not all, of us will have experienced times when we put our faith into practice because we were motivated by how others will see us, rather than solely acting out of altruism. To do so is human nature. But Jesus urges us to live our faith in ways that are not solely performative. Following Jesus will mean focusing primarily on what is in our hearts — cultivating genuine compassion and empathy for others, rather than seeking praise or plaudits for our actions.

There is definitely still value to our practice of external ritual — after all, our experiences shape our inward reality as well — but at the outset of a new day, we lift up a prayer that God would continue to make our hearts ever more Christlike.

Prayer

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen. (Psalm 51:10)

Reflection written by Matt Helms, Associate Pastor