By Ken Yates
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” (Mark 7:5)…[Jesus said] “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man” (Mark 7:15).
INTRODUCTION
In the Gospels, Jesus often spoke to large crowds. Like any group, these crowds would have been comprised of different types of people. Some would have been believers. These knew He was the Christ and that they had eternal life in Him. Among these believers, some had decided to follow Him in discipleship. They were willing to pay the price to obey His teachings and become more like Him. Other believers listened to Him and decided whether to follow Him in discipleship.
But there would also have been unbelievers in the crowds. They had heard about His power and teaching. They wanted to know what this miracle-working rabbi from Galilee was saying. They had grown up in a religious environment that taught that good works would allow them to enter the kingdom of God. Most considered the Pharisees as examples to follow. These men emphasized good works. Did Jesus support what these men taught? The believers in the group would have wondered the same thing.
The Lord was the greatest Teacher who ever lived. Mark 7:14-23 gives us an example of why that was the case. He speaks to one of these large crowds. He talks about a very important topic. Would He address His words to the believers in the crowd, or the unbelievers?
He loved both groups. That should not surprise us, since He was the perfect Son of God. He reached out to the spiritual needs of everybody in the crowd.
LEGALISM: A MESSAGE FOR ALL
The Pharisees followed many religious rules and taught that others should do the same. These rules covered every area of life. Some dealt with what a person must do before eating food. How one cleaned his house, kitchen, and bed were also covered.
If a Jew went to the marketplace, the Pharisees had rules for what he should or should not do. The day of the week these activities took place was also important. If a person was sick on Saturday, the Pharisees said he should not seek any kind of medical care on that day.
Such rules are often called legalism. Legalism focuses on outward things. A legalist thinks he is pleasing to God because of what he eats, what he wears, how he washes his hands, and what days he celebrates.
In Jesus’ day, such rules dominated the culture. The scribes and Pharisees were walking around as the supposed examples par excellence of a life lived that way. They were well-respected and seen as the men in the nation who were most pleasing to God.
Some of the most important rules in their system dealt with eating food. In their minds, food made somebody either holy or defiled. If you ate the right food in the right way, you were obedient to God. If you ate the wrong food or ate food in the wrong way, you were cursed by God.
Jesus took this teaching to task. He first addressed whether eating with washed hands made a person holy. He spoke to the crowd and said:
“Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mark 7:14-16).
Jesus said that eating with dirty hands did not impact a person’s spiritual life. But it was not just eating with dirt on your fingers. The food held by those unwashed fingers did not impact one’s relationship with God, either. That food would soon exit the body. Mark adds that the Lord declared all foods clean (7:19).
The Lord taught these things to both believers and unbelievers. What value would this teaching have for each group?
A MESSAGE FOR BELIEVERS
There were those in the crowd who had believed that Jesus was the Christ. They knew that He had given them eternal life. He would bring in an eternal kingdom, and they would be citizens in that kingdom.
But these new believers wondered how they were to live now. They had, throughout their lives, seen the Pharisees with their clean hands and their holy-looking clothing. What the Pharisees ate seemed to be the right food.
Is that the way the Lord wanted believers in Him to live? Should Christians wash their hands and couches in a prescribed way? Should they avoid certain foods? Are these practices what made a person who had eternal life pleasing to God?
The Lord made it clear that the answer to all those questions was “no.” Jesus explained that the believer’s heart was the important thing (Mark 7:19-21). A believer who didn’t love the Lord was not pleasing to Him, no matter what he ate or how clean his kitchen was.
In other words, legalism is not the answer for a believer. He should ask the Lord to change his heart through His Word. The Holy Spirit can take Christ’s teachings and transform the believer from the inside out.
This was a radical idea for the believers in the crowd. But they needed to hear it.
A MESSAGE FOR UNBELIEVERS
What about the unbelievers who were listening to the Lord discuss these things? The Pharisees, as well as many unbelievers in the crowd, thought that they would enter the kingdom of God if they did all these outward works.
The Lord, in no uncertain terms, taught that no outward thing can make somebody acceptable to God. We cannot receive eternal life through good works (Eph 2:8-9). Legalism will not save anybody from the lake of fire.
This went against everything these Jews had been taught. They would have thought that if anybody was going to be in the kingdom, it was the Pharisees. The Pharisees would have agreed with that thinking!
But Jesus said that all their efforts were useless. They were clean on the outside, but their hearts were far from God.
This would have caused some unbelievers to ask: “If my good works cannot get me into the kingdom, what can?” As they listened to the Lord, they would have found out: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).
CONCLUSION
Anybody who has spoken to a crowd of any size knows that it can be a challenge. What can you say that will be beneficial for everybody? If you talk about a certain topic, some may have no idea what you’re talking about. Or, you may address a theme that has no bearing whatsoever on some of the people, and they will get bored.
The Lord, of course, was the perfect Teacher. In a confrontation with the Pharisees, He had to address an important subject. It was legalism. The Pharisees had long taught that cleaning up our outward lives with outward things was the way to receive eternal life and please God.
If we could summarize what He said, it would be that legalism is not the answer—for anybody.
As the unbeliever in the crowd heard Him, he would conclude that works could not save him. He would have to look for another way to enter the kingdom of God. I am sure some later believed in Christ for eternal life.
For the believers in the crowd, Christ’s words would challenge them to lay aside the traditions they held dear. Did they want to please the Lord? Then, they needed to reject the legalistic practices of the Pharisees. They needed to listen to the words of the Lord and ask the Spirit to fill their hearts—their inward man—with His teachings. That was the way to be His disciple.
Jesus told them all to flee from legalism. All could benefit from what He said. The same is true for the crowds who read His words today.
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Ken Yates is a retired Army chaplain (Lt. Col). He has many theological degrees, including a Ph.D. from D.T.S. in New Testament. He leads the GES international ministry, cohosts the daily podcast, and assists Bob in all aspects of the GES ministry. His new book, Elisabeth, is a powerful testimony to the power of God manifested in a Christ-centered family. He and his wife, Pam, live in Columbia, SC.