Transcript:
There are many people who are very vocal about their Christianity. They frequently invoke the name of Jesus. They are known for praying frequently and about everything. They wear clothing or jewelry that identifies them as a Christian. It is natural to assume those people are true servants of Jesus whose heart is in the right place.
However, Jesus made some proclamations about the religious leaders of His day warning that outward shows of piety can be deceiving. Just because people sound faithful to God, does not mean they actually are. Furthermore, sometimes the appearance of godliness masks the fact that people are following manmade rules, not God’s rules. Unfortunately, this is happening in modern Christianity.
According to Mark 6:7-13 Jesus sent the twelve out in pairs to preach repentance, cast out demons, and heal people. Mark 6:30-31 tells us when they came back and reported to Jesus all that they had done, Jesus decided to take them to a desolate place to rest. However, the people anticipated their movements and got to the destination ahead of Jesus, so Jesus and the twelve were not able to get away from the crowds.
Jesus had compassion for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He taught them until it was late in the day. Then He fed them using only five loaves and two fish. There were five thousand men in the crowd who were fed.
Mark 6:45 ¶ And immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.
Bethsaida was on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum.
Mark 6:46 And after bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Jesus did not have the disciples with Him, but He was finally by Himself and could pray.
Mark 6:47 ¶ And when it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.
Mark 6:48 And seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He was intending to pass by them.
Mark 6:49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and cried out;
Mark 6:50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.”
Mark 6:51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly amazed,
Mark 6:52 for they had not gained any insight about the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
Verse 51 tells us the disciples were amazed Jesus was able to stop the storm. After everything Jesus had done, they should not have been surprised. However, they were, and verse 52 explains their heart was hardened and the feeding of the five thousand had not given them any insight into the truth about Jesus.
Today, many people do not understand the truth about Jesus even though we have ample evidence that Jesus was God and rose from the dead. If the disciples, who were eyewitnesses, had trouble grasping the truth, then maybe it should not surprise us that people today, who are not eyewitnesses, also have trouble grasping the truth.
Mark 6:53 ¶ And when they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.
Jesus had originally sent the twelve to Bethsaida, but they actually arrived at Gennesaret. Gennesaret was about 6 miles / 10km away from Bethsaida. It would have taken a couple hours to walk from one to the other.
Mark 6:54 And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,
Mark 6:55 and ran about that whole region and began to carry here and there on their mats those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.
Mark 6:56 And wherever He was entering villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces, and pleading with Him that they might just touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were being saved from their sicknesses.
Verses 55 and 56 capture the chaos that surrounded Jesus. As soon as He was recognized, people flocked to Him, seeking relief from pain and illness.
Mark 7:1 ¶ And the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem,
Mark 7:2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed.
Notice the reason the religious leaders gathered around Jesus. It had to do with failure to wash hands.
Mark 7:3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;
Mark 7:4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)
The Mosaic Law included rules about washing. The temple included a laver in which the priests had to wash. Sacrifices had to be washed as part of offering it. The procedure for being cleansed from uncleanness included washing.
However, by the first century AD, Jewish tradition had added many rules that went well beyond what was required in the Mosaic Law. Verse 4 lists some of those rules.
Mark 7:5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?”
The religious leaders were confronting Jesus because His disciples were not following their man-made rules.
Mark 7:6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
Mark 7:7 BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDS OF MEN.’
Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13. In the Old Testament time period, during the days of Isaiah, the Jewish people sounded religious. They verbally proclaimed their loyalty to Yahweh. However, the reality was their heart was not in obedience to God. They had created man-made rules and pretended they were Yahweh’s rules.
Jesus said the religious leaders of His day were doing the same thing. They had their man-made rules which they unswervingly observed, so they appeared to be faithful to the one and only true God. The problem was they were not obeying Yahweh’s rules. They only claimed and appeared to be doing so.
This happens today. The New Testament includes rules about head-coverings, wives submitting to husbands, and the role of women in church. Many churches or so-called churches claim those rules were cultural; thus, they ignore them. The Bible does not say those rules were cultural. Nor does the Bible give us permission to ignore rules when the culture changes.
Christianity today is doing exactly what the first century Jews were doing. We do many things to appear righteous and faithful to God, but at the same time we are using man-made traditions to throw away God’s rules.
Mark 7:8 Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
Mark 7:9 ¶ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
Mark 7:10 For Moses said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER’; and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH’;
These were quotations from the Mosaic Law and were supposed to be observed. Honoring parents meant helping them financially in their old age.
Mark 7:11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’
Mark 7:12 you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother;
Mark 7:13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
Jewish tradition had created a loophole the Jews used to avoid giving money to help their parents. All they had to do was say their possessions were devoted to God.
In our society there are many people who are very vocal about their Christianity. It is natural to assume they are true servants of Jesus whose heart is in the right place.
However, Jesus made it clear that it is possible to honor God with lips, and yet have hearts that are far from God. Christians today do many things to appear righteous, while at the same time they use man-made traditions to throw away God’s rules. Those of us who are true servants of Jesus need to study the scriptures and make sure we follow God’s rules, not man’s rules.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”
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