Mark 7:1-13

Mark 7:1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem

gathered around Jesus,

they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals

with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,

do not eat without carefully washing their hands,

keeping the tradition of the elders.

And on coming from the marketplace

they do not eat without purifying themselves.

And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,

the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,

“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders

but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”

He responded,

“Well did Isaiah prophesy 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 as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

He went on to say,

“How well you have set aside the commandment of God

in order to uphold your tradition!

For Moses said,

Honor your father and your mother,

and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.

Yet you say,

‘If someone says to father or mother,

“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’

(meaning, dedicated to God),

you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

You nullify the word of God

in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.

And you do many such things.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I pray that I do not nullify your word by choosing what is merely human and temporal over what is truly divine and eternal. Fill me with your grace so that I may do your will and follow your commandments, especially the commandment of love.

Encountering the Word of God

1. A Key to Reading and Understanding Mark’s Gospel: The Gospel of Mark is structured into sections that form chiastic “sandwiches.” Chiasms were ancient literary techniques in which the first part of a section corresponds to the last part. The second part corresponds to the penultimate part and so on. And there is a middle that serves as an interpretative key to the whole section. We are reading from the Bread Section in Mark’s Gospel, a section that highlights Jesus’ identity and ministry. Jesus’ identity was questioned before the feeding of the 5,000 in Israel and after the feeding of the 4,000 in Gentile territory. Jesus healed many in Israel after the feeding of the 5,000, and healed the Syrophoenician’s daughter in Tyre before the feeding of the 4,000 in Gentile territory. The debate with the Pharisees over purity and human traditions, which we read today and tomorrow, is in the middle of the Bread Section and gives us the key to understanding the profound meaning of the entire section: Impurity, evil, and sin, Jesus teaches, come from within our hearts, and are not caused by not externally observing dietary laws and traditions about cleansing “cups, jugs, kettles, and beds.” This teaching and refocus on the heart of God’s law justifies Jesus’ movement from Jewish to Gentile territories and his provision of bread to both groups. The human traditions that the Pharisees have built up have become an obstacle to faithfulness to God’s Law for the Jewish people and will be an obstacle to the proclamation of the Gospel to all nations. The Pharisees can no longer cling to their human traditions, and the Law of the Old Covenant will need to be brought to fulfillment in the New Covenant.

2. The Pharisees and Their Traditions: In the Gospel, we see that the plot of the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem against Jesus continues to take shape. They opposed Jesus from the beginning of his ministry and accused him of blasphemy and associating with sinners. They said that Jesus’ mighty works were diabolical and not divine. Here, they accuse Jesus’ disciples of religious laxity. The Pharisees, who advocated strict observance of the Law of Moses and total separation from the Gentiles, saw that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating. Here, Mark takes the time to explain the Jewish practice for his Gentile readers. While the Law of Moses did have rules for the priests to wash their hands and feet before offering a sacrifice and eating their share of the sacrifice, there was no obligation for the people to do so before every meal. This obligation was an oral tradition developed by the Pharisees and extended to every Jewish meal to make it a religious act and expression of Jewish identity.

3. Human Traditions vs. Divine Commandments: Jesus responds to the question of the Pharisees and scribes about why his disciples do not follow the tradition of the elders by calling them hypocrites and invoking a prophecy from Isaiah 29:13 that applies to them. In its original context, the prophecy reprimanded Jerusalem for consulting its political leaders while rejecting the prophets. “Because their leaders routinely exclude the Lord from foreign policy decisions and rely instead on their own wisdom, their worship of the Lord has become empty and vain. No longer, says Isaiah, will Yahweh tolerate their lip service when their hearts are devoid of living faith. The Pharisees have fallen into the same trap of rejecting God’s wisdom in favor of their own (Matthew 23:23; Colossians 2:20-23). As a result, their venerated traditions are empty and in dangerous competition with God’s will as revealed in the gospel” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 1800).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the Image of God, the Word of God, and the Son of God. Help me to reflect God’s holiness each day as an image of God. Inspire me to be a prophet in this world and communicate the Gospel more perfectly. May I be more docile to the Father’s will as a child of God.

Living the Word of God: Are there things that I am clinging to that prevent me from more fully living God’s law and will? What commandments of God am I tempted to leave aside? What habitual sins do I struggle to overcome?