Sermon Notes: Mark 6:53-7:23

Text: Mark 6:53-7:23 

 Big Idea: Jesus is the divine Son of God and the suffering servant Messiah who inaugurates the kingdom of God, who atones for sin through his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus calls his people to a costly discipleship of self-denial and suffering with purpose and joy.  

Big Idea of Mark 6:53-7:23: After Jesus heals a host of people who come to him in good faith, John Mark recounts for us the contrasting situation where Pharisees and scribes come to Jesus from Jerusalem, not for help, but to trap Jesus in his words. In this contrasting account, Jesus makes clear the foundational issue for mankind is a heart that produces evil not the breaking of extra-biblical laws.  

Mark shows us Jesus’ intent of the law, and that is to lead us to see our need for new hearts only available through faith in Jesus.  

Observation  

Author: John Mark 

Audience: Gentiles who are being told the good news of the kingdom of Jesus.   Followers of Jesus who are growing up into maturity in Christ and learning how to live under the rule of his increasing kingdom on earth as in heaven.  

NOTE: Mark records one of his most lengthy accounts of Jesus’ conflict with the Pharisees here, and since Jesus’ ministry is about to turn predominantly to Gentiles, and because Mark is ministering in Rome among Gentiles, Jesus’ clarity on his intent in the law is very important.  

NOTE: See Galatians for Paul’s application of Jesus’ teaching about the intent of the law.  

Occasion: Mark, as Peter’s missionary helper, is writing a gospel “tract” for use on the field as they preach the good news to Gentiles.  

Genre: Overall, historical biography.  

 Key words and phrases (big words, words that are repeated, etc.):   

Pharisees.  

Scribes. 

Hands...defiled...unwashed. 

Wash their hands properly – Literally “wash the fist”.  

Tradition of the elders – Oral extrapolations of the law to cover every possible scenario of breaking the law. This would be codified in the 200’s AD as the “Mishnah”.  

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. 

Honor with lips...hearts far from me...in vain they worship...teach as doctrines commandments of men – Quoted from Isaiah 29:13. 

Honor father and mother...Corban – A formal man-made commandment where a man could dedicate funds he should use to obey Exodus 20:12 and designate it for the temple, and thus it could not be used for their parents. 

NOTE: There are some many topics one could springboard to address in the gospels, but the question is what the Holy Spirit is communicating through Mark’s big idea NOT how many mini sermons can I preach. There is a lot to honoring father and mother. But that is not Mark’s point.  

Many such things you do – Corban was one of a whole catalog of man-made laws from God’s law that missed the mark of God’s law.  

Nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him. 

Entered the house – Theme: insiders/outsiders. Jesus’ disciples are near, so they get to ask for more. Jesus gives them more.  

Are you also without understanding? – Jesus sharply, kindly, and in a straightforward way gets his disciple’s attention. It is worth noting how Jesus works with his people.  

Thus, he declared all foods clean. – This commentary by Mark is huge. Mark does not answer our questions that rise from our NOTE in the “big idea”. Mark just drops a big gift of grace on us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  

All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.  

 Lists:   

Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  

Contrasts and comparisons (What is being contrasted or compared? Is there an illustration?):   

Contrast: Those who come to Jesus to be healed and those who come to Jesus to criticize him for not keeping to their man-made laws.  

Contrast: Traditions of the elders and the commandment of God. 7:10 “For Moses said...but you say...” 

Contrast: External “things” and the heart. Creation does not defile. The heart of man, dead from sin, produces more death and it defiles.  

 Expressions of time (until, then, when, after):  

When 6:53, 54, 7:1, 4, 17,   

Then 7:12, 18 

These expressions of time are showing us some cause and effect, logical conclusions from the actions of the folks in the history.  

7:1 indicates that the Pharisees and scribes came with a mission and that mission is being accomplished as they gather to him. This plays with the contrast of their intent on coming to Jesus and the intent of those coming to Jesus for healing.  

Terms of conclusion/purpose clauses (wherefore, therefore, for this reason, finally, for, so, so that):   

For - 7:3, 10, 21   

Since - 7:19  

Thus - 7:19 – Thus, he declared all foods clean.  

What does the text say: (Don’t interpret here. Just restate the passage in your own words.)  

NOTE: I’m going to do some gospel interpreting here! 

Some people come to Jesus because of who he is, and they know he can make them well. Whether their coming to him is in saving faith or in some practical mustard seed desperate attempt at help, we can’t say. What we can say is that when people come to Jesus believing, he does great things for them.  

Some people come to Jesus because he is a threat to their own standards of righteousness.  

Jesus, the divine Son of God, the Creator, has entered time and space to crush the Serpent Dragon’s head, and by his presence the wheat and the weeds, team Jesus and team Serpent Dragon, reveal themselves.  

Mark 7:1–19 serves as an illustration for verses 20–23...even the pursuit of God’s law becomes corrupted (vv. 1–13) because of a corrupt heart...   

This is a tricky. It’s tricky because somewhere along the way the Pharisee’s pursuit of God’s law morphed into a pursuit of self-righteousness that was a crushing blow to faith in God that worked from the inside out. They went from faith, inside working itself out to outside conformity to a manmade standard as the standard.  

Somewhere someone missed it, passed it on, and before you know it an entire movement claiming to have God’s standard of holiness is seeking to put the God they claim to worship to death.  

They have evil hearts not transformed by faith in the LORD, and they have taken God’s word and missed the point of it and abuseD it to do all their evil heart’s desire.  

They do this believing they are serving God while really serving themselves.  

The teams are clear.  

The Pharisees and Scribes have taken God’s word and created an oral law that covers every possible scenario of breaking God’s word. They missed the Law’s purpose. They made the law an end in itself. They have taken the law and made additional laws. They now have law-laws.  

In the process they have turned their law-laws into something more binding than the actual law and thus missed the point of God’s law.  

Jesus applies Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 29:13 to them.  

Then Jesus uses one of their law-laws as an example of the many ways they abuse his word. Jesus selects the law-law of Corban. Corban, from the Hebrew word for “offering,” was a rabbinic custom derived from the practice of devoting particular goods to the Lord as specified in Lev 27:28 and Num 18:14. They turned a law for dedicating an offering to the LORD into a way to by-pass the 5th commandment.  

Jesus calls some of the people who have gathered to him together and instructs them in the truth after this encounter. The Pharisees and scribes don’t hear this part. They are outsiders to the kingdom.  

It is very important here to remember, Jesus, who is the Author of the word, never leaves the text of the Scriptures.  

They go into the house, now. The audience is even less. It’s the disciples and Jesus. The disciples ask Jesus about what he was telling the smaller group of people with his “the parable” (v. 17).  

So, now an even smaller group gets the insight. Remember what Jesus said about why he teaches in parables: So that only those who will believe in him, who have faith, can get it, and those who won’t will be left out.  

Jesus sharply asks his disciples a rhetorical question: Are you also without understanding? Jesus only asked his disciples that.  

Jesus tells them that nothing from the outside the body that goes into the body can defile the body. 

Here is where I’m breaking my “observation rules”: Is Jesus ignoring his law? Doesn’t the law give us dietary restrictions? 

Jesus never leaves the text.  

Jesus is interpreting law through the lens of Genesis 15.  

NOTE: It is Jesus’ law to interpret. We don’t get to create our own hermeneutic. Jesus’ hermeneutic must become ours.  

Jesus promises to keep his covenant with Abraham, so why would he change his word to Abraham in the law? Did God bait and switch Abraham? If you are not familiar with Genesis 15, you may be confused. Hang with me.  

Go with me to Paul and Galatians.  

Paul’s whole argument in Galatians 3 (where it tells us the purpose of the law) is not rooted in the law. Paul’s argument, like Jesus’ in our text today from whom he gets his argument, is found in Genesis 15 and the covenant the LORD makes with Abraham, and particularly Genesis 15:6. 

Genesis 15:6 (ESV) 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 

The LORD himself makes a covenant with Abraham and ratifies the covenant himself and makes Abraham a part of the covenant by his grace and power alone with no help from Abraham. The LORD put Abraham to sleep while he made, kept, and sealed the covenant. Abraham believes and receives. That is it.  

The law is a good and purposeful addition to an already established covenant relationship built on God’s promise and received by faith.  

The law never nullifies the promise made in Genesis 15.  

The law shows us how God will fulfill the promise.  

The law shows us the intricate nature of our sin and what the Father will do when he executes the Son of God and receives his flayed body as the payment for your sin and mine.  

The law shows us all the ways we have broken his standard. And by the way, his standard is way deeper than lobster and pork.  

NOTE: Like the flayed sacrifice of Genesis 15 that shows us the cross before the cross, where in the dread and darkness of the moment the Father passes through the offering and receives the offering and atones for sin. The Father never turns away from the Son. The Father walks down the middle of the broken body of his Son for you and me. That is what is happening in the darkness that comes over the earth at the cross. Genesis 15 and the cross.  

Paul was not ignoring the law to justify his work among the Gentiles. Mark is not dismissing God’s law to justify his work with Peter in Rome among pork eating, mixed fabric wearing, no tassels on their coats, tattooed Gentiles.  

Mark, Peter, Paul all know God’s word.  

They know that the law was God’s teacher to show mankind they are so deeply in violation of God’s standard that the only way they can be atoned for is for God himself to pay the penalty for their sin like he promised Abraham he would do.  

If we forget Genesis 15, we get swirled up on goofy arguments just like the Pharisees and start making dumb law-laws about what we can eat and wear and say and read and watch so we can be more holy. And as Paul says in Romans 6, if anyone uses salvation by grace alone through faith alone and the freedom that gives us to go and sin on purpose, their condemnation is deserved. Freedom is not justification to be a fool. And law is no standard by which one can actually be clean.  

Jesus, rightly assumes, those who are called by the name “Israel” should know his word. They should default to Genesis 15. Then they would understand his intent in the law and stop creating law-laws of their own to earn their cleanness before God.  

Jesus lets them know their hearts are the problem because from within, at that place deep inside humans where death visited hardness and coldness and fist shaking at God, that place is where uncleanness resides. Because the Pharisees sure didn’t eat any catfish and bacon grease hushpuppies, but their adulterous hearts were on full display.  

Jesus lets them know they need way more than some clean hands.  

They need new hearts.  

Interpretation/Application: (What does this mean? Take all of the observation data into account) 

1. The heart of man is sick and in need of transformation.  

Our external sin issues are sanctified not from the outside in, but from the inside out.  

2. Be careful about making up law-laws for people that God doesn’t make and missing the good news.  

Peter reverted to this when he was on the field. Paul writes about it in Galatians 2.  

Peter was enjoying his freedom from the law and being in Christ. Then some legalists who didn’t understand God’s purpose in the law show up, and Peter withdraws fellowship from the Gentiles. The Gentiles are confused. Paul rebukes Peter for not being in step with the good news.  

We have to be careful to not be like Peter. 

3. Don’t be lawless.   

The opposite error is equally dangerous.  

Don’t believe that freedom from the law for righteousness before the Father is a license to sin.   

Gospel Connection:  

We are not saved by keeping the law.  

We are not more holy toward God and righteous among people based on keeping someone else’ law-law.  

We are made holy by believing the good news.