Day 8: Religiosity Exposed

Welcome to Day 8 of our study of the Gospel of Mark. So, remember that in the first half of the book, there's three oppositions.

And, uh, the first one was pretty strong and, uh, and abrasive. And, and now they're going sort of an end run. And so, we'll have a big controversy about tradition versus the truth. And that's important for you to remember, because then there'll be three specific miracles. All the miracles are going to happen in a Gentile region.

And Jesus is going to talk about tradition versus truth, and how our traditions, our religiosity, nullifies the truth. And then He's going to do some very radical things as He heals a woman who's not only a Gentile, but I mean, um, it's her daughter who's demon-possessed, and then He'll heal another man who's completely unclean. And then in a Gentile area He'll feed 4,000.

So, let's follow along in the text and, uh beginning in chapter seven it says, the Pharisees and some teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with unclean, that is, ceremonially unwashed hands. The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to - key word - the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash and they observe many other traditions such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.

So, just get the picture, His popularity is growing, now they've got a team of people coming from Jerusalem, official delegation and they're, they're going to confront Jesus, they want to find out what's really going on and as they come, they're watching the disciples and they're breaking some traditions, they're not doing the ceremonial washing.

So, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus, Why don't Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands? It's going to get very good now. He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men.

Now, what I want you to get, because chapter 8 is the climax of the book, Jesus has gone from being very subtle, He's in their face, He's being very direct. And now what He's going to do, He's going to take one of their traditions, and He's going to flip it, and He's going to show them, if you want to know who's really guilty before God, it's not people with external washing of their hands and going through the motions, it's what some of your religion and tradition is doing.

So, here's what He says, You, teachers of the law speaking to them, you elders of Israel, let go of the commandment of God and are holding to the traditions of men. And He said to them, You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. For Moses said, Honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father and mother whatever help you might otherwise have received from me, it's Corban.

That is, it's a gift devoted to God. Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus - here's the key phrase - you nullify the Word of God by your traditions that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.

Now, you probably are thinking what's Corban and what's the big deal? What they did to get around the commandment, just like Paul would write to us, when our parents get older, we have a moral responsibility to our families.

Well, what the Pharisees had done, they created a new thing, said, well, if you say Corban, then this money you've devoted to the Lord and to the Temple, well, they're getting a big cut of that. So now, it freed people from supporting their parents. Jesus is saying, guys, are you kidding? I mean, right there in the Ten Commandments, honor your father and mother, and you figured a loophole and a workaround? So that people don't honor their father and mother? And what He knew was, these guys were getting extremely rich off of their roles in the religious establishment.

And then notice verse 14. Again, Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, Listen to Me, everyone. So, He's not just rebuking them. Now He’s saying, Hey, hey, crowd, come on. Let's do a little instruction on this. Listen to Me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of the man that makes him unclean.

After He left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples asked Him about this parable. Are you so dull? He asked. Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach and then out of his body.

Notice, in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went on to say, What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within and out of a man's heart comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.

Do you see what He's doing? I mean, He is changing the paradigm. Jesus came to break through the barriers and one of the biggest barriers to knowing God, to walking with Jesus, to being a follower of Jesus, is understanding that it's not external things that make us right with God or righteous. It's a matter of the heart. It's internal. So, what He's taught them now, and I mean He's taking on the establishment now and this is going to cost Him his life.

And what He's teaching the disciples is all these external rules. And it's easy for us to look back at them and they're doing those kind of things and boy, how do they ever do that? Well, let me ask you, how much of the same thing have we done in different ways and somehow think, well, I must be right with God. When I was 12, I was baptized. I prayed a prayer. I'm trying to be a nice person. I go to church regularly. And Jesus would say to you and me, Well, those things, in and of themselves, can be very good if they're coming from the heart.

Could I hear about your in-depth times in prayer? Could I hear about your love for other people? Could I hear about the envy or the jealousy or the issues of the heart? Are you watching over your heart with all diligence? We all struggle, if we're really honest, that we make external righteousness sort of the standard because we can control it.

And you know what, there's a lot of people in our world who still think, you know, Don't drink, don't smoke. What's the old saying? Don't go with girls that do or guys that do. And this external process somehow makes you right with God. Jesus is blowing that up. And, and that list He gave? I mean, slander, arrogance, murder, adultery, greed. Wow, there's one. Malice, having those attitudes like you want to get back at someone. Lewdness, that's sexual perversion. He says all these things, they come from your heart. And by the way, later He'll teach that you can know what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth.

Uh, Luke, in a corresponding passage, it's chapter 6, verse 45, he says, The good man out of the good treasure brings forth what is good, and the evil man brings forth what is evil, for the mouth speaks by that which fills the heart.

So, He's done that, and now we've got this issue of clean or unclean. What makes you right with God? External versus internal.

Now, Jesus is wiped out. I mean, He's overwhelmed with people, and He wants to get away, and the way to get away from Jews is go to a very Gentile area. And so, He's going to now go and try and get some time alone, get some R&R, You know, we all feel this way, but as He goes, like always, someone finds out where He is.

And one of the most unique conversations we have in the New Testament takes place. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre, a very Gentile area. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet He could not keep His presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek. Notice, Mark wants us to know she's unclean, exterior, unclean, unclean. She's a Greek. She's a Gentile. Not only that, uh, born in Syria, Phoenicia. In other words, she's a Phoenician Greek. She begged Jesus to drive out the demon from her daughter. Jesus’ response at first seems like, Is this, this isn't the Jesus that we think about.

He says, First let the children eat all they want, He told her. For it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. And then she has this reply. Yes, Lord, she replied, but even the dogs under the table get to eat the children's crumbs. Then He told her, for such a reply you may go, the demon has left your daughter. He's doing this long-distance healing. She went home and found her child lying on a bed and the demon was gone.

What's going on here? So, He says to her, basically, the children He's speaking of is the Jews. I came for the Jews. I'm the Messiah of the Jews. Uh, now Isaiah prophesied God had a plan for the Gentiles and all the rest.

And this woman, she won't let go. She has this inner drive. She wants help for her child. And by the way, He's not being as disrespectful as it sounds. There's a two words in the New Testament for dog. One is for the dogs that roam the street and they were kind of wild and they could often be dangerous. And there's another word, we would use the word doggies.

Little, little dogs that were inside that were kind of like, like pets and so He's playing on some words and says, you know, I, I came for the children of Israel, not for the doggies. And so, she flips it right back on Him and she says, Lord, you know, those little doggies around the house that are cute and everything, when the crumbs fall, even they get some.

And notice what He, He's saying is her faith. Daughter, your faith, remember, the arc of this book is following Jesus, and we're, we're wanting to follow the disciples, and we're wanting to learn with them. These disciples have grown up their whole life knowing you don't wash your hands ceremonially? Wow, I mean, you're not right with God.

And well, they start hanging out with Jesus, and pretty soon He's breaking traditional rules, so they break the rules, and, and then He tells them it really is about the heart. But they still have it. Yeah, it's about the heart for Jews. And then He goes over here. And here's the most unclean person possible, externally. And He heals her daughter.

And those disciples are looking at each other going, Man, this thing is getting crazier and more wild by the day. And then just in case they didn't get it, the next miracle is someone who is unclean, internally. And now, watch this miracle, and He's going to the next level for His disciples. He wants them to understand that righteousness, right relationship, is a matter of the heart.

Miracle number two, the healing of the deaf and dumb man. Verse 31. Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. So, we're still in Gentile territory.

There some people brought a man to Him who was deaf and could hardly talk and they begged Him to place His hands on the man. After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to Heaven, and with a deep sigh He said, Ephphatha, which means, be opened.

At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more He did so, the more they kept talking about it.

So now, the word in all this Gentile area, man, these miracles are going crazy and people are coming out like crazy. Jesus commanded them not to say anything, but they're talking to everyone. Notice the response of the people. These are Gentiles. These are non-Jews.

These are people that when Peter was a little boy, when John was a little boy, when James was a little boy, you don't walk into their house, they're defiled, they're not God's people. They've learned bias and prejudice their whole life. And now the Lord says the external defilement that you guys think makes a person unacceptable to God. That's not true with the woman. There are few things that would defile a person more than they can't speak and they can't hear. Their perspective would be if you can't speak and you can't hear, you're under the judgment of God.

Jesus, He says, um, no. Takes him away from the crowd. Heals him. And I'm just, in my mind, what I want you to get is imagine what those disciples are thinking now.

First of all, they're like in a part of town that they've probably never been in. First it was Tyre, now we're in the Decapolis. These are the ten city areas. It's all Gentile area. And, and it's, they're scratching their head, wait a minute, He's our Messiah, and now He's healing Gentile people.

Well, if you think that's bad. Chapter 8 opens up and Jesus wants them to know there is no one in all the world outside of God's reach and God's love. And so, He's going to do for a group of Gentiles the very same thing that He did for a group of Jews. And He's going to make the same picture that His love and His grace and His provision is available for whosoever would come.

Pick up the story. Notice, the author wants us to know, it's at the same time, during those days, another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said - motive - I have compassion for these people. They have been already with Me three days, had nothing to eat.

Now get this, I mean get yourself like in the disciples’ world, they're in this Gentile area and He's been teaching for three days and these Gentiles who they think they have no desire for God. They must be despised by God. That's what they've learned. They've been hanging around for a three-day seminar to hear Jesus’ teaching. And they're out in the middle of nowhere, but they would rather listen to Him than eat. And so, after three days, Jesus says, I think we have a problem here.

So, we pick up the story, and uh, He says, If I send them home hungry, they'll collapse along the way. Because some of them have come from a long distance. His disciples answer, where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them? How many loaves do you have?

Does this sound familiar? Oh, it's impossible. You're asking us to do something. We don't have the provision, or in our world, we don't have the money, or some of you in ministry, we don't have the staff, or we would really like to help those people, but we don't have the energy or the time.

Jesus always takes us back to, how about this? What do you have? How about let's not worry about what we can't do for Jesus, who we can't minister to, what we can't accomplish with what we don't have. That's a mindset. How about we start with what would happen if I touched what you do have, because you were actually ready and prepared to act on what you do have, to love and to help people.

And in this context, people that maybe you're uncomfortable with. People that you think are far from God. People of the other political party. People that have a lot of tattoos, maybe. Or, from the other side, maybe people who drive fancy cars, or, or appear to be wealthy, and you know those people, right? We all have biases. Or maybe they have a different sexual orientation.

See, we're not a whole lot different than these disciples, are we? We all kind of have categories that in this lane I'm good with that and I do these things and He's blowing up the categories. And part of why I wanted you to walk with me all the way through Mark and not get just little pieces of gospel stories. I wanted you to go on this journey to understand The Calvary Road is following Jesus on a road less traveled where there is tremendous cost but even greater reward. So, let's find out what He does.

Well, the disciples come back and they say, Well, we've got seven loaves. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground, and when He'd taken the seven loaves and had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well, and He gave thanks for them also, and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterwards, the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over and about 4,000 men were present.

And what we know from the other story and from the culture that they usually just counted, the men. So, think 4,000 men and some wives and some kids and let's ponder just a minute. These miracles aren't just thrown in here. He's in a Gentile region. Okay? Let's just ask ourselves if we could get inside of Mark's mind and him putting this together, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it starts off with the issue of tradition and truth.

And so, we have this conversation with the with the Pharisees and the, the elders and we get that it's, it's internal not external. And then, in case you missed it, so he, someone who has real external defilement from a Jewish standpoint gets healed – the daughter, the demon, leaves. And then there's someone who has internal defilement, the guy who's deaf and, and dumb, he gets healed. And then, in case you missed it, then he finds there's huge crowds coming in Gentile areas and He's giving them the same message about the kingdom of God. And then He feeds them the way He fed the 5,000. At the 5,000 there were 12 baskets left over, 12 tribes.

The Messiah has come to meet the needs of all the people of Israel. Gentiles, seven baskets. The perfect number is seven. All through Scripture, seven is a perfect number. And Jesus had seven basketfuls. So, that as those disciples were holding those baskets and looking at each other, and their mind was getting completely messed up with this new paradigm, and they counted 7, aha, Jesus came for the Jews, but all those prophecies of Isaiah. A light for the Gentiles. All that prophecy, all the way back to that promise to Abraham. And you will be out of your seed, all the nations of the earth.

This Messiah, Jesus, is breaking every paradigm. He's now shown them who He is. He's shown them what makes you right with God. And now in chapter 8, in our next time together, it'll be the climax of the book. And they will actually discover, firsthand, the answer to the question, who do you say that I am?