Mark
7
- The Pharisees and some of the teachers of
the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and
- saw some of his disciples eating food with
hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed.
- (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat
unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition
of the elders.
- 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.)
- 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 'unclean' hands.?"
- He replied, "Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
- They worship me in vain; their teachings
are but rules taught by men.'
- You have let go of the commands of God and
are holding on to the traditions of men."
- And he said to them: "You have a fine
way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions
!
- For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your
mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
- But you say that if a man says to his father
or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban'
(that is, a gift devoted to God),
- then you no longer let him do anything for
his father or mother.
- Thus you nullify the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
- Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said,
"Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
- Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean'
by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"
- [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.]
- After he had left the crowd and entered the
house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
- "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't
you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean
'?
- For it doesn't go into his heart but into
his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared
all foods "clean.")
- He went on: "What comes out of a man
is what makes him 'unclean.'
- For from within, out of men's hearts, come
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander,
arrogance and folly.
- All these evils come from inside and make
a man 'unclean.'"
- Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity
of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could
not keep his presence secret.
- In fact, as soon as she heard about him,
a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell
at his feet.
- The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia.
She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
- "First let the children eat all they
want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's
bread and toss it to their dogs."
- "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but
even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
- Then he told her, "For such a reply,
you may go; the demon has left your daughter."
- She went home and found her child lying on
the bed, and the demon gone.
- Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and
went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the
Decapolis.
- There some people brought to him a man who
was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the
man.
- After he took him aside, away from the crowd,
Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's
tongue.
- He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh
said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!").
- At this, the man's ears were opened, his
tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
- Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone.
But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.
- People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He
has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear
and the mute speak."
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