Mark 07: Healing Inside and Out

Jesus challenges religious leaders about empty rituals while demonstrating his power to heal both inner spiritual afflictions and outward physical conditions in Mark 7.

• Religious leaders criticize Jesus because his disciples don't follow hand-washing traditions
• Jesus confronts their hypocrisy by showing how they use traditions to avoid caring for parents
• True defilement comes from the heart, not from what we eat or external factors
• Jesus helps a Gentile woman by healing her daughter from demonic possession
• Using unconventional methods including his own saliva, Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment
• God works creatively and uniquely, not according to formulas or algorithms
• The most important prayer is not to understand God's methods but to trust Him more completely

Take a moment today to pray: "God, I have no idea why you're doing what you're doing or how you're doing it, but help me to trust you more than I ever have."

Contact us-

Ask a Question
Send Encouragement

Take a Next Step-

SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.

Socials-

Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.

The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown Podcast
• 2:11 Jesus Challenges Religious Traditions
• 6:35 What Truly Defiles a Person
• 7:35 The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith
• 10:07 Healing the Deaf Man
• 12:41 Trusting God's Creative Methods

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, mark, chapter 7, and today's title is Healing Inside and Out Healing Inside and Out. I know that a lot of times, the outward healings are the ones that get all the press, all the excitement and they should. But some of the greatest healings are the ones that you and I will never see. But some of the greatest healings are the ones that you and I will never see, except you see, someone who is at peace, who for so long has just been tortured in their mind. Peace and healing, no matter whether we see it or whether we can tell by someone's countenance, is always a miracle. Healing is always amazing and we get to see Jesus do both today. So I'm excited about that. We get into it in just a second. So you have your Bibles, we'll get into it in just a second. So, if you have your Bibles, I want to open it with me to Matthew, chapter 6. While you're doing that, excuse me, 7. While you're doing that, make sure you take just a second to like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and breakdown discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and, as always, you can get all that information by going to thebiblebreakdowncom.

Speaker 1: 1:37

Once again, if you've been with us for the past little while, we were talking about how there are four gospels in the New Testament, but the one gospel that just hits the ground running and don't stop I mean, it is 90 miles an hour the whole time is the gospel of Mark, and so that's why we are calling it the gospel in motion is it is just showing how Jesus is just with his people over and over again. He is the suffering servant. He is serving the people, he is with them. I love how he says I did not come to be served, but to serve. Give my life as a ransom for many. We can see that very, very much, and in today's passage we get to see how Jesus talks about inner healing and outer healing as well, and so we're going to jump into this real quick and we're just going to do exactly what Mark does, and that is get down to business. So if you're ready, let's jump in. Mark, chapter 7, verse 1.

Speaker 1: 2:27

One day, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. The Jews, especially the Pharisees, did not eat until they had poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they did not eat anything from the market until they immersed their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions that they have clung to, such as their ceremonial washing of cup, pitchers and kettles. So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said why don't your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Now, pause. Now what is going on at this time? Is you imagine if there is this rabbi out there, and stories are starting to spread that he is no simple traveling teacher, but he is feeding thousands of people, he is teaching with power, he's healing people and there's even a rumor that he walked on water. At some point. The big dogs from Jerusalem are going to come out to try to see who he is. They're going to watch and observe and see what's going on. That's what's happening, and as they're going, the one thing they found about Jesus is that his followers are not following a tradition.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Now, to make sure it's not saying that they didn't wash their hands before they ate. It's not saying that at all. What they would do is is they would do this process where they would immerse something in water, push it over here, immerse it back in water, put it over there. It just it was. It was just a ritual. That's all it was. It had at some point. It probably had a meaning. At this point, there is no meaning been doing for a long time and I love how Jesus says this. He just goes right to the heart of it and he says you hypocrites. So in other words, he's saying you don't know why we do this either. Okay, you hypocrites.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farcece and they teach man-made ideas as commands of God. You ignore God's law and substitute it for your own tradition. Then he said you skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold your own tradition. For instance, moses gave you this law honor your father and your mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully to father and mother must be put to death. But you say it is all right to say to the parents I'm sorry, I can't help you for what I vowed to give you. I vowed to give to God what I would have given to you, and in this way you disregard their needy parents. You also cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. This is only one example of many other things. So, in other words, what they would do is they would make a deal with the local synagogue or with the temple and they would say this when I die, I am going to give you this land. And then the synagogue would say okay, you can have it until you die, and then we'll take it. And then they would go to their parents and say I'm sorry, I can't sell this land and then give you the money I've already given it to the Lord. So they look awful pious, awful holy, but really they were just disregarding helping other people. And so he's saying we're actually using the Bible to hurt people instead of help people Verse 14,.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Then Jesus called out to the crowd to come in here. All of you listen. He said Try to understand. It is not what goes into your body that defiles you, but what comes out of your heart. Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. Don't you understand either? He asked Can't you see that food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn't go into your heart, it only passes through your stomach and then goes out of the sewer. By saying this, he declared that every kind of food was acceptable in God's eyes. Now pause Now. Why that's also really cool is later on in the book of Acts, god gives Peter a dream where he is telling Peter in the dream that the food is now kosher and he's using it as an example to talk about the Gentiles. But you can tell it really stuck, because right here he's going back to that idea of kosher food Verse 20,. Then he added it is what comes from the inside of you that defiles you. It is from within, out of a person's heart, that he commits evil thoughts. Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceitfulness, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride and foolishness All of these vile things come from within you. They are what defile you.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn't want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn't keep it a secret. Right away, a woman who had heard about him came and fell down at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter, since she was a Gentile and was born as a Syrophoenician. Jesus told her Should I first feed the children, my own family, the Jews? Is it right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs? And Jesus replied or the lady replied that's true, lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat scraps from the children's plate. Good answer, he said Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter. And when she arrived home, she found that her little girl lying quiet in bed. The demon was gone. Now pause. Now people who want to take the scripture and twist it will say that Jesus was being hateful to this lady. And this lady stood up for justice, you know, and took her stand. And because this lady took her stand in social justice and all this kind of stuff, that is not what's going on here. Okay, that is not what's happening.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Jesus stated many, many times there was an order to this thing and he was primarily sent to the house of Israel and then to the rest of the world. And so, first of all, he's saying you know, and you can say this once again, he's the king of Kings, he came to die for our sins. He loves this lady, okay. And so imagine him saying this with a kind of a wink and a smile, and he's going you know, I'm really supposed to wink wink, only be here for the Jewish people right now. You really think I ought to wait? And then he calls her a dog. Okay, there were different kinds of dogs in the time. Most of the dogs during the time were wild dogs, something close to what we call a coyote. Now, this is not the word for that word. Dog, this is a word for a household pet, it's a term of endearment. Someone said, hey, little puppy, hey, little guy, it's a term of endearment. And so, with a smile on his face, he's looking at her and he's saying you know, wink, wink, I'm supposed to be here for the Jewish people first. You think I should give it to you, sweetheart. Yes, sir, good answer. In other words, yes, you were supposed to have faith, you did it right. He's not being mean to her, he's pushing on her a little bit so her faith will grow. That's all that's happening here, verse 31.

Speaker 1: 9:43

When Jesus left Cairo and went up to Sidon, before going back to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Ten Towns, a deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him and the people begged Jesus to lay his hand on the man and heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man's ears and then, spitting on his own fingers, touched the man's tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said which means be opened Instantly. The man could hear perfectly and his tongue was free so he could speak plainly. Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. They were completely amazed and said again and again everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and give speech to those who cannot speak.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Now, before we end our time together, I love this idea that the gospel of Mark is showing that Jesus is both challenging and healing people on the inside, and he's healing people on the outside. He's challenging them. He's saying think about what you're thinking about. Think about why we're supposed to be washing our hands and all this kind of stuff. Let's make sure we don't get caught up in religious legalism. But we're able to live in freedom and then on the other side he's literally healing physical issues. I love that freedom. And then on the other side he's literally healing physical issues. So I love that.

Speaker 1: 11:14

But we got to talk about licking somebody, like spitting on his hand and putting it on somebody. I mean, we got to talk about that. So here's two things. First of all, during the time, it was thought that saliva had healing properties. So it would not have been as unheard of as you might think for Jesus to have done this in the culture. Now, for us, we're like ooh, that's gross. In the time it would have been thought of as common. Jesus is a healer. He takes his saliva and puts it on this guy. It would be almost the same thing as ever been to one of those churches and they will anoint you with oil. Wouldn't have been much further off than that. Okay, so what he was doing was not considered to be ridiculous during the time. It's a cultural issue we're not really caught up on. Second thing is I have no idea, but I will say this.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I think the reason why sometimes God would just say a word, and sometimes Jesus would spit and all that, and then sometimes he makes mud and puts it on somebody, whatever, whatever is to help us realize that God does what he wants to do. God is not an algorithm. He is not a system of rules to be figured out. He is God now. He always will do things within His moral standards, which is perfection and goodness and holiness. God doesn't play with us. You know what I'm saying. He's going to stay within the moral perfection that he has, but within that, god is creative. God is unique, god does what he wants when he wants and he always has the best motives. And I wonder if he did that in the Scripture to remind us that you're never going to figure him out. As soon as you think you've got God figured out, he's going to find a whole new way of doing something amazing. And so instead of trying to figure him out, instead let's figure out how to get in on what he's doing and just trust him.

Speaker 1: 13:06

What a wonderful prayer we could pray today. And that is God. I have no idea why you're doing what you're doing, how you're doing it, but I pray, not for you to help me figure it out, but my prayer is you will help me to trust you more than I ever have. If we pray a prayer like that, I think there's peace there.

Speaker 1: 13:25

So let's pray with that today, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're a creative God and you got a thousand and one ways to rescue us out of anything. We find our way into God. I pray today that you're a creative God and you've got a thousand and one ways to rescue us out of anything. We find our way into God. I pray today that you will help us to trust you more and to realize, god, that you are for us and not against us. I pray, god you open our eyes to see your goodness and to know that we haven't seen the half of it. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. God's word says in Mark 8, verse 34, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. We're going to read that tomorrow as we continue our journey on the gospel of Mark. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow.