David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 7:18-19

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

I never give a thought to whether something is kosher or not, whether I have traveled more than 1500 paces on any Saturday, or whether I need to buy a dove or slaughter a lamb for a sacrificial offering. I don’t fret and fuss over whether or not the tassels on my prayer shaw (which I don’t have in the first place) are long enough, or if I would even be able to grow sidelocks!

But these and many more traditions and observances are front and center for Orthodox and Hasidic Jews today. In Jesus’ day they were the centerpiece of Jewish religious life. We take little thought about them today, and don’t even realize how significant that is in itself. But the story of the first church council, recorded in Acts 15 shows us that there was a time when the debate raged as to whether or not non-Jewish believers in Christ should have to observe all these laws and more.

Mark’s conclusion here, and Jesus’ words in relation to what does or does not defile a person are far more important than we might imagine. As the debate went on about whether or not Gentile believers should be required to follow the Jewish laws, Peter comments:

 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:10-11)

We take quite for granted that our salvation rests not on ritual, but on relationship. We are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, not by submitting to even the best and most well-intentioned yoke of ritual or law. That we don’t need to worry about eating only certain kinds of foods in order to be in good standing with God is but one facet of the freedom we have through Jesus Christ. Thank God that and all the other ritual requirements are a yoke long forgotten!

Mark 7:14-23

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”