Jesus not only drew those who needed healing and were hungry for His words, but also some critical observers. You know the type—people who observe from the fringe for any little mistake that they can wag their head about. Mark 7:1-13 is about such an encounter.
Some Pharisees and scribes closely watched Jesus and the disciples. Perhaps in part to figure out who Jesus was, but also as gatekeepers to discern and reject false teaching. Possibly, to even hear or see something that they could use to accuse Jesus. And what grievous sin did they uncover? Some of the disciples ate with unwashed hands.
From the perspective of modern hygiene, washing our hands is a good thing. But this is not about that. In that day, a tradition had formed about washing hands. But this was more of a ceremonial dipping than a soap scrub and rinse kind of handwashing. It wasn’t about cleanliness; it was about keeping a tradition of the elders not specified in the Law of Moses. “So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?”” (Mark 7:5, CSB)
For an answer, Jesus began by pointing them back to Isaiah’s prophecy. “He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.” (Mark 7:6–7, CSB)
Jesus then went on to demonstrate how they use human commands to circumvent God’s commands. “He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition! For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’ ” (that is, an offering devoted to God), “you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”” (Mark 7:9–13, CSB)
Anytime people gather or work together, rules and expectations are created. Most rules have a reasonable and even laudable origin. The tradition of handwashing may have begun as a reminder of Psalm 24. “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.” (Psalm 24:3–4, CSB) But the point of the psalm is more about the heart than the dirt on our hands. But, over time, the internal purpose was replaced by external, mindless obedience.
How do we separate human commands from God’s commands? What are examples of manmade rules in our congregations? Are there any that rise to the level of supplanting God’s rules? Those are hard questions to answer, especially the last one. Remember Jesus said “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3–5, CSB) The Pharisees needed that lesson, so do we.
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