The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were acting like their traditions were from God. Jesus corrects that to say a person cannot get clean from religious rituals that look good on the outside, but actually purity and righteous actions come from the heart.
The good news is that the same Jesus who went on to heal the Syrophonecian woman’s daughter and the man who was deaf and mute can also heal our hearts if we let Him.
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This episode was filmed in India where those who follow Jesus are sharing about the One True God to people who believe in many gods much like the Christians in Rome that Mark was writing.
Video:
Mark 7 Notes:
The first story in Mark 7 reminds me of a phrase I heard Erwin McManus share many times in my early days of traveling with him as part of the team at Mosaic in Los Angeles. He would challenge the church leaders who had brought him in to speak by saying: “You care more about your traditions than you do your children.”
20 years ago or so, many of these churches were hanging onto what they liked rather than adjusting to reach the next generation. What they liked wasn’t biblical, it was actually something they added on.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were acting like their traditions were from God. Jesus corrects that to say a person cannot get clean from religious rituals that look good on the outside, but actually purity and righteous actions come from the heart.
What is the trajectory of your heart? Because our thoughts become our actions. The list he gives of impure actions don’t just happen to us! We sin when we choose what is destructive to us and destructive to others.
“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”” (Mark 7:21-23 NIV)
By the way, religious leaders tend to emphasize sexual immorality, murder, and adultery conveniently leaving out the ones that may be more tempting for them like greed, deceit, envy, slander, and arrogance.
The good news is that the same Jesus who went on to heal the Syrophonecian woman’s daughter and the man who was deaf and mute can also heal our hearts if we let Him.
What are ways you are growing in this area?
What are ways you’ve been able to overcome struggles in the past and stay accountable in the present?
