MARK 7:1-8

[R E LANGFORD JR]

Lenten Greetings All!

Here is the opening pericope of Chapter 7 of our bible
study on MARK, vv. 1-8. Have fun applying the lesson

to your own testimony and behavior as a believer!
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MARK 7:1-8 Bible Study in Christian Friendship chatroom
@ TalkCity, done FRI., 3 JNE 2011; revised and edited for 23 MCH 2012.

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joegabe1:	*MSG* Heavenly father
joegabe1:	*MSG* We do well to give you thanks for all you do
joegabe1:	*MSG* for us and we can not begin to pay you backk.
joegabe1:	*MSG* Please remember Luna that is still in the hospital and pks father that is ailing with copd
joegabe1:	*MSG* you are a kind and loving god that loves us very much
joegabe1:	*MSG* grant our teacher wisdom for his teachin of this study
joegabe1:	*MSG* we ask this of you in the name of your son jesus
joegabe1:	*MSG* amen
1revd:	*MSG* Amen.
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:1-8 Bible Study in Christian Friendship chatroom @ TalkCity,
1revd:	*MSG* done FRI., 3 JNE 2011; revised and edited for 23 MCH 2012.
1revd:	*MSG* Joegabe, would you post the verses, please?
joegabe1:	*MSG* Mark 7
joegabe1:	*MSG* That Which Defiles
joegabe1:	*MSG* 1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they
joegabe1:	*MSG* wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])
joegabe1:	*MSG* 5 So the Pharisees and 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 defiled hands????
joegabe1:	*MSG* 6 He replied, ???Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
joegabe1:	*MSG* ??????These people honor me with their lips,
joegabe1:	*MSG* but their hearts are far from me.
joegabe1:	*MSG* 7 They worship me in vain;
joegabe1:	*MSG* their teachings are merely human rules.???[b]
joegabe1:	*MSG* 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.???
1revd:	*MSG* We still agree that the "???" stands for quotations marks?
joegabe1:	*MSG* yes
1revd:	*MSG* OK
1revd:	*MSG* Today we begin a "new" chapter in Mark's gospel tale of Jesus. Chapter 7 provides us with two items. #1 VV 1-23 show us the mind of the Messiah on the important social issue of what's clean and what's unclean. #2 These same verses show us how the religious leaders of that era were interpreting the Law of Moses, a "handed down" or "traditioned" way of thinking about this same social issue.
1revd:	*MSG* Sometimes this same tendency appears in the way Christians behave today.
1revd:	*MSG* If we can get through just this much, we'll have wrapped our heads and thoughts around something that really upset Jesus!
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:1 Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. |The Bible| This seems to be yet another delegation sent by the "higher ups" among the Pharisees in Jerusalem, along with the lawyers who knew the Law of Moses. We remember that Mark has told us this kind of thing already . . .
1revd:	*MSG* in MARK 3:22, The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons." |The Bible| The religious leaders are checking up on someone who would nominally belong to their group. Jesus is clearly not a part of the Saducees - the collaborators with the Romans, and also the Priestly party in charge of the temple.
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:2 Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault. |The Bible| There's that key word: "defiled" elsewhere translated "unclean."
1revd:	*MSG* [ASIDE] I still get the quivers reading that. My granddaddy was a doc, and was (it seemed to me) to be forever washing his hands. Grandmama would say things like, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness," and my folks also made a fuss about us kids "washing up" before we came to the table to eat. I've often wondered in other people had parents and grandparents who fussed so much about having clean hands. [ASIDE ENDS]
1revd:	*MSG* Did you have folks that fussed about clean hands, Joegabe?
joegabe1:	*MSG* yes lol
1revd:	*MSG* Oh my, it must be the climate then?
joegabe1:	*MSG* no
1revd:	*MSG* hehehehehehe
1revd:	*MSG* This, in the cameo pericope today is not a concern with germs. Germ theory never even got promulgated until the end of the 1800s. No! This is a concern or "fact finding" delegation that wants to investigate the hinterland activities of a Galilean "prophet," a report on whom has reached their ears in the temple.
joegabe1:	*MSG* p.e.i. was a lot of farms
1revd:	*MSG* ah so, farm kids were still getting a lot of fussing over clean hands to come to the table back in the '60s in rural Ohio.
1revd:	*MSG* VV 3-4 are often bracketed by translators. This is done to refresh our memories. Not everyone in Mark's audience =some of whom, being Roman or other gentile listeners= would comprehend that what upset Jesus was something that happened culturally within the Jewish community.
1revd:	*MSG* 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 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.)
1revd:	*MSG* Perhaps I ought mention that I've copied stuff from "Bible Gateway," and their NIV translation?
joegabe1:	*MSG* so do i
1revd:	*MSG* neat
1revd:	*MSG* [ASIDE] In VV 4 we read an interesting, if covert or hidden, comprehension of the customs of the Pharisees "and all the Jews." Mark tells us that among the many other traditions they observe is the "washing" of cups, pitchers, and kettles. Do tell? What's so odd about that? Ah, do you realize that it's the word "baptize" that is translated here "washing?" Remember! This is no concern for 21st century cleanliness, no worry about E-boli or samonella bugs getting into the nooks and crannies of utensils used for food prep. This is a "tradition," a "custom," a "man made rule." It is not at all something God wants or expects. [ASIDE ENDS]
1revd:	*MSG* Modern Christians often forget that sort of thing. If it's good for keeping germs down, betcha folks begin to believe God cares about it, and approves of making kids wash up before eating.
1revd:	*MSG* Notice also the "double whammy" effect of Mark's comment in VV 3 as it it repeated in VV 5, this time with the emphasis spelled out for the "slower" folks in the audience (I am one of those.)
1revd:	*MSG* it is ^^^
1revd:	*MSG* Moving on, MARK 7:5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?" |The Bible|
1revd:	*MSG* One of the translators I've read suggested that Mark framed this part of the tale to reflect what happened in the early Christian community, post crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. His argument ran that the Pharisees were bugging the early Christians, and so Mark "invented" this confrontation and stuck it into his tale.
1revd:	*MSG* I do not buy this version, in fact I find it contrived.
1revd:	*MSG* Mark is a story teller, and he would have been "called" on it if a person in the audience remembered a different version of events. At the very least, this must be, I write again, MUST BE, a report of something very like what surely happened more than once.
1revd:	*MSG* The "ceremonial" law was a part of the tradition of the elders in Jewish society, it extended way past the Levites and Aaronic priesthood. At that time the ceremonial "law" was considered binding! Note especially how contact with "ritually unclean" people like Gentiles "in the marketplace," or with other Jews who did not observe the ceremonial law (such as shepherds, day laborers, etc.) would cause people who "ought" to care about the ceremonial law to become ceremonially "unclean" themselves!
1revd:	*MSG* When I was in Junior High School, in a largely Jewish community, some of the Jewish boys would not eat with the other Jewish boys, because that group would eat at the same tables as us few Gentile boys going to that school. The antique rules about ceremonial cleanliness were still "in play" among the orthodox Jewish families of my young adulthood.
1revd:	*MSG* The Jews of Jesus' time had turned up-side down the reason Moses gave the direction in the first place. The Jews, particularly the Pharisees, of Jesus' era thought along the following line. "Defilement is contageous!" People who are "unclean" can make you unclean simply by contact.
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?" |The Bible|
1revd:	*MSG* We remember the question!
1revd:	*MSG* Even so, a thought arises.
1revd:	*MSG* [ASIDE] Why should the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses care how the disciples of Jesus behave? Could it be that they were thinking of him, Jesus, as one of their own? or even potentially someone they wanted to enlist in their cadre of speakers? IMO, it's a tricky question. A lot of Jesus' concerns would be easy to lump with the concerns of the Pharisaic party. He is forever telling people what the Law of Moses really wants from them. This makes him informally a Pharisee and a scribe! Just my wandering and wondering! [ASIDE ENDS]
1revd:	*MSG* Jesus answers by quoting one of the greatest of the prophets: Isaiah. ISAIAH 29:13 The Lord said, "Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; |The Bible|
1revd:	*MSG* I've even preached on this theme in Lent, back in the 1970s.
1revd:	*MSG* Here Jesus uses a quotation from Isaiah who slammed the leaders of his day.
1revd:	*MSG* Jesus uses this quotation to provide the link, the direct connection, between the "tradition of the elders," and "rules taught by men." Thus, Jesus denounced the people questioning him, just as Isaiah did many long years before!
1revd:	*MSG* This shows us the right use of Scripture for admonition and correction. It ought never be used as condemnation; that belongs to the Judge of the living and the dead. Instruction and encouragement of spiritual growth belongs to all called upon to teach and preach in Christ's church.
1revd:	*MSG* Joegabe, you have quoted the author to the Thessalonians on this point often. It is always a good reminder!
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:6, 6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:" Jesus takes authority over the scripture already written. He declares it is a prophesy about the people standing in front of him at that present moment. "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."
1revd:	*MSG* Then comes the amazing thing! (WOW! It always stuns me to hear it.) Jesus nails down his assertion with a verdict. MARK 7:8 "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions."
1revd:	*MSG* During Lent, indeed in every time of the year but especially in this time as we strive to purge and purify our thoughts and words and deeds in preparation for celebrating and remembering the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, we must (IMO) ask ourselves just how far we have gone astray from God's Word. We need to ask ourselves whether we are holding fast to human traditions in such a way that would distress our Master and Savior.
1revd:	*MSG* Again, then, dear Friends, IMO, we who read and listen to MARK and strive to comprehend it, to hear it as those in Mark's first audiences heard his Gospel Tale, need to ask ourselves if, or whether, we also do as the "nit-pickers" of Jesus' era did. Do we substitute cultural rules, social standards, etc. for the commands of God? If we are to believe what we read, I am convinced that we have to agree that we are just like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' time. Again, however, that is my view of things, my POV.
1revd:	*MSG* I cannot answer for you, but I know I must be perpetually on guard against all sorts of temptations to conform to society's pressures and prejudices simply to avoid the hassle of explaining what I hope to achieve by sticking to what God wants of me, and strictly to that alone. I do not always succeed. My wife can tell you that about me.
1revd:	*MSG* BTW, that is one of the wonderful things about having a believing disciple of Jesus for a spouse. She watches out for me when I stumble, and I watch out for her. I could not have done the tasks, the job I did in gospel ministry for 40+ years were it not for the understanding and support and correction of a faithful spouse.
1revd:	*MSG* Here, we must end for today.
1revd:	*MSG* Joegabe, would you please lead us in prayer?
joegabe1:	*MSG* Dear Lord,
joegabe1:	*MSG* As we start living our week until the next study
joegabe1:	*MSG* grant us peace and goood health
joegabe1:	*MSG* and let us lead good lives in honor of your presence and will for us
joegabe1:	*MSG* make us know how to serve you in the best possible way
joegabe1:	*MSG* and to treat people as you would
joegabe1:	*MSG* we ask this in jesus holy name
joegabe1:	*MSG* amen
1revd:	*MSG* Amen.

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I wonder how many will choose to mark the festival of the
Annunciation this coming Sunday. How many will ignore
this Christological feast day in favor of a sober, lenten

Sunday devoted to repentance, confession, and sorrow for

sin? Surely the Annunciation deserves at least a mention in

the collects, and perhaps the prayers of the church?

 
The Rev'd R E LANGFORD JR, FAPC, ELCA pastor  ! retired !
       39.58°N by 75.98°W

My clarity of conscience and my purity of heart are undisputed

evidence that my memory is failing me.        

`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸..·´¯`·...¸ ><(((((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.· ><((º>