Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (NRSV)
Read Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 7Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, Verse 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. Verse 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; Verse 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) Verse 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" Verse 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
Verse 14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: Verse 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." Verse 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, Verse 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. Verse 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
Devotion
Not only does Jesus redraw boundaries, he also changes the role of the law. Now the law is no longer a checklist whereby we assure ourselves of God’s blessing but rather an opportunity to practice love in freedom. Rather than following a list of rules about how to live with God and with neighbor and hoping that God will therefore love us, we are freed to love God and our neighbor since God has already loved us! Gerhard Ebeling, in The Nature of Faith, writes: “This radical view means a liberation from anxious or refined casuistry, a liberation to do the will of God. [Jesus warns against being] pious and lacking in love, against maintaining the law of God in principle and in general, but ignoring its concrete demands.” We pray to be liberated to do the will of God.
Prayer
Liberating God, give us grace to be not only hearers, but doers, of your holy word; not only to profess, but to practice your religion; not only to love, but to live your gospel. Grant that what we receive into our hearts, we may show forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Lambeth Conference, 1948, rev.)