Mark 7
Encyclopedia
Mark 7 is the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark
in the New Testament
of the Christian
Bible
. This chapter explores Jesus
's relationship's with both fellow Jews and Gentile
s. Jesus (according to some interpretations) rejects Jewish kosher food laws and then heals two gentiles, one begrudgingly. Scholars debate just how most of this reflects Jesus's own view and how much is reflective of the conflict between Jewish and Gentile converts in the early Church
.
Some Pharisees
come from Jerusalem to see Jesus and see some of his disciples
eating without washing their hands
. Mark then explains to his audience the Jewish custom of washing before dinner, indicating a non-Jewish audience. They ask Jesus why they are not obeying the custom and Jesus replies with a quote from Isaiah
29:13 and tells them "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." (8). He rebukes them for letting a man who makes an offering to God
, i.e. money to the priests, no longer help his parents, in violation of the fifth commandment
. That this was done is not found in other sources of the period, although "...rabbinic Jewish texts suggest that vows may be broken in such circumstances." (Miller 29)
He calls people to listen to them and explains that "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.'" (15) Later his disciples (students) tell him they didn't understand him and he scolds them for being "dull". He explains to them that food can't make you unclean but "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 evil
s come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" (20-23) meaning intention of the "heart" is more important than ritual. What foods you eat will not matter to God. According to Kilgallen "...ultimately what is at stake here is knowledge
of the divine
will
: Who knows best what God wants human beings to do." (135) This view is contrasted to the controversy, such as at the Council of Jerusalem
, within the Early Church over just how much Mosaic law one must obey. Mark uses this story as evidence for his view in the Pauline
direction, making scholars question how much of it is actually Jesus's own teaching and how much of it is Mark trying to win Gentile converts. If the author really is Saint Mark then this would indicate that his group, Peter
's circle, had come around in the Pauline direction. The saying, not the explanation, however is also found in the Gospel of Thomas
saying 14.
. Mark tells the story of the Syrophoenician
woman who finds Jesus at a friend's house in Tyre and begs him to heal her demon possessed
daughter. He brushes her off, saying ""First let the children eat all they want,...for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (27), where the children are the children of Israel and the dogs are the Gentile
s, a metaphor found in other Jewish writing (Kilgallen 138). "'Yes, Lord,' she replied, 'but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" (28) Impressed with her answer, he tells her to go home and she returns home to find her daughter healed. This is one of the few times, and the only time in Mark, that Jesus performs a miracle at a distance, that is he does not touch nor is he near the girl. He only says it will be done and it is done, by his will alone. This passage shows that, according to Mark, Jesus's primary mission was to the Jews first and only then the Gentiles but Gentiles, as long as they have belief, can be part of that mission as well.
Jesus goes to the Decapolis
and comes across a crippled man who is deaf and mute. He touches his ears and touches his tongue with his own spit and says "Ephphatha! (which means, 'Be opened!')" (34), Mark translating from the Aramaic. The man regains his hearing and speech and word quickly spreads. In this miracle, as opposed to the woman, Jesus uses specific techniques, (the touching, the spit, the word), to effect a cure. This passage could be a fulfillment of Isaiah 35:5-6.
The argument with the Pharisees about food laws and the Syrophoenician woman is also found in Matthew
15:1-28
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. This chapter explores Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
's relationship's with both fellow Jews and Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
s. Jesus (according to some interpretations) rejects Jewish kosher food laws and then heals two gentiles, one begrudgingly. Scholars debate just how most of this reflects Jesus's own view and how much is reflective of the conflict between Jewish and Gentile converts in the early Church
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
.
Clean and unclean
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
come from Jerusalem to see Jesus and see some of his disciples
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
eating without washing their hands
Hand washing
Hand washing for hand hygiene is the act of cleaning the hands with or without the use of water or another liquid, or with the use of soap, for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and/or microorganisms....
. Mark then explains to his audience the Jewish custom of washing before dinner, indicating a non-Jewish audience. They ask Jesus why they are not obeying the custom and Jesus replies with a quote from Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
29:13 and tells them "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." (8). He rebukes them for letting a man who makes an offering to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, i.e. money to the priests, no longer help his parents, in violation of the fifth commandment
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
. That this was done is not found in other sources of the period, although "...rabbinic Jewish texts suggest that vows may be broken in such circumstances." (Miller 29)
He calls people to listen to them and explains that "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.'" (15) Later his disciples (students) tell him they didn't understand him and he scolds them for being "dull". He explains to them that food can't make you unclean but "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
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, greed, malice
Malice
Malice may refer to:* Malice , a legal term describing the intent to harm* Jerry Tuite , American professional wrestler also known by the ring name Malice-Entertainment:...
, deceit, lewdness, envy
Envy
Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
, slander, arrogance
Arrogance
Arrogance or arrogant may refer to:*Overbearing*Hubris...
and folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
. All these evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
s come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" (20-23) meaning intention of the "heart" is more important than ritual. What foods you eat will not matter to God. According to Kilgallen "...ultimately what is at stake here is knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
of the divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
will
Will (philosophy)
Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...
: Who knows best what God wants human beings to do." (135) This view is contrasted to the controversy, such as at the Council of Jerusalem
Council of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
, within the Early Church over just how much Mosaic law one must obey. Mark uses this story as evidence for his view in the Pauline
Pauline Christianity
Pauline Christianity is a term used to refer to the Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul of Tarsus through his writings. Most of orthodox Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of...
direction, making scholars question how much of it is actually Jesus's own teaching and how much of it is Mark trying to win Gentile converts. If the author really is Saint Mark then this would indicate that his group, Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
's circle, had come around in the Pauline direction. The saying, not the explanation, however is also found in the Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...
saying 14.
The Syrophoenician woman and the deaf mute man
Mark then contrasts Jesus's fight over obeying Jewish law with two healings of Gentiles. Jesus travels to two cities in what is now LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. Mark tells the story of the Syrophoenician
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
woman who finds Jesus at a friend's house in Tyre and begs him to heal her demon possessed
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
daughter. He brushes her off, saying ""First let the children eat all they want,...for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (27), where the children are the children of Israel and the dogs are the Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
s, a metaphor found in other Jewish writing (Kilgallen 138). "'Yes, Lord,' she replied, 'but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" (28) Impressed with her answer, he tells her to go home and she returns home to find her daughter healed. This is one of the few times, and the only time in Mark, that Jesus performs a miracle at a distance, that is he does not touch nor is he near the girl. He only says it will be done and it is done, by his will alone. This passage shows that, according to Mark, Jesus's primary mission was to the Jews first and only then the Gentiles but Gentiles, as long as they have belief, can be part of that mission as well.
Jesus goes to the Decapolis
Decapolis
The Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Judea and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status...
and comes across a crippled man who is deaf and mute. He touches his ears and touches his tongue with his own spit and says "Ephphatha! (which means, 'Be opened!')" (34), Mark translating from the Aramaic. The man regains his hearing and speech and word quickly spreads. In this miracle, as opposed to the woman, Jesus uses specific techniques, (the touching, the spit, the word), to effect a cure. This passage could be a fulfillment of Isaiah 35:5-6.
The argument with the Pharisees about food laws and the Syrophoenician woman is also found in Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
15:1-28