14 After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. 16 Let those with ears use them and listen.” 17 When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. 18 Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. 19 It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) 20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.” - Mark 7:14-23
As He did earlier in Mark 4, the Lord Jesus utilized another parable in His teaching in today's passage. This time He use it in order to address the misguided religion of the religious leaders. Religion is man trying to earn God's favor, but, this is impossible for us to do. In fact, this is why the Lord Jesus came: in order to provide a perfect sacrifice to make those willing of heart enough to believe in Him right before God.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying."
The key to avoiding "religion" is to "listen to" and to "understand" what the Lord Jesus says. The problem with religion is it focuses on the wrong thing; it focuses on the externals. In fact, it focuses on the externals so much that when we succeed in something, we start feeling superior to others. This is what these religious leaders were in the practice of doing. All the while, the problem was not external, it was internal. The heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart.
The Greek word translated "listen" means to pay attention so much that the Lord defines us. The word translated "understand" means to fit all the little pieces together until we comprehend the main idea and how it looks in our daily lives. There are few things more dangerous for us than not being defined by God.
In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. 16 Let those with ears use them and listen."
Five times in this passage we have a form of the word "unclean." It means to be impure, corrupt, or defiled. Throughout Scripture we are told to be able to distinguish between what is impure and what is pure. That which is pure is consistent with God's definition of it, and, that which is impure does not align with what God says on the subject.
At the root to our inability to walk in the truth and to benefit from it is the problem of an impure hearts. It is from the heart that all our evil thoughts and choices emanate. These religious folk carefully obeyed the food laws, but they did not have a heart relationship with the God of the Bible. Their problem was that their hearts were not engaged. And, the way they treated others bore this out.
The food laws given by God in His Word were never meant to make anyone right with God. In fact, they were given by God to improve the quality of our day to day life. The food laws were about sanctification not justification. Sanctification is what happens to us after we have been "born again" and made right in God's eyes through the cross of His Son. As the Lord Jesus highlights here, the law was never meant to address the core of mankind's ultimate problem: a hardened heart toward God. The changing of the hardened heart is the role of God's grace, not His Law.
In v.17-19 of today's passage we read, "17 When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. 18 Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. 19 It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.)"
All of mankind since the Fall in the Garden of Eden has been polluted by sin. Christianity is the only "world religion" (it is really not a religion) that teaches Original Sin, meaning that man was born with a wicked, sinful heart. And, it is sin that has separated us from having a personal relationship with God and from loving others as we ought.
When we entered into a personal relationship with God, He, through the Holy Spirit began writing His law on our hearts. The essence of His law is "to love." And, through His Spirit and His Word, He teaches us His love for us, modeling for us what it looks like to love others. It has always confused me when Christians justify treating someone in a way that God does not treat us. One way of knowing that you are growing in a meaningful personal relationship with God is seen in how we treat other people, especially the worst.
Brennan Manning writes in his book Abba's Child, "My identity as Abba’s child is not an abstraction or a tap dance into
religiosity. It is the core truth of my existence. Living in the wisdom
of accepted tenderness profoundly affects my perception of reality, the
way I respond to people and their life situations. How I treat my
brothers and sisters from day to day, whether they be Caucasian,
African, Asian, or Hispanic; how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the
street; how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike; how I deal
with ordinary people in their ordinary unbelief on an ordinary day will
speak the truth of who I am more poignantly than the pro-life sticker
on the bumper of my car."
In v.20-23 of today's passage we read, "20 And Jesus said, 'The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.'"
All that defilement comes from inside, and no ritual, no attempt at morality, no attempt at religion can alter that defilement at all. Our need has always been the need a new heart. This is the promise of salvation. This is why the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." This is the work of the gospel. And, we make no contribution to that other than allowing Christ to embrace us. I trust you have been embraced. If not, cry out to Him right now and He will come running to your deepest need.
