Mark, chapter 7 for today:
You and I are like Pharisees when we want someone to fall and trip. This chapter opens with the Pharisees intent on catching Jesus in the wrong. Today's incident involved Jesus and the Twelve eating with "unclean" hands. This was a forbidden practice, for Jews were expected to follow the tradition of a ceremonial cleaning of the hands before eating. So, the question gets asked of Jesus why He did not follow this practice. Jesus responds with a prophetic quote from Isaiah of people who honored God with their lips, but whose hearts were far from Him -- Their worship was in vain, and their teachings were but rules of men. Jesus also counters the practice set up by them called Corban, which allowed a man to not care for his parents by declaring money that could be used to care for them as Corban; Jesus said this practice went against the Commandment to Honor one's mother and father.
Jesus then declares that it is not what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but what comes out of them that does. Food eaten with either clean or unclean hands, goes into the stomach and becomes waste. Jesus says it is what comes out of a person that makes one "unclean." Jesus shares the examples of unclean things that come out of a person: unclean thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
The chapter continues with an encounter with a Gentile woman of faith, who begs Jesus to heal her daughter from a demon possession. The encounter was the one where Jesus tries to make the case for all healings to be for Jews, "Let the children eat all they want," to which the woman counters, "Yes Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." This reply resulted in the daughter's healing.
Jesus then visits the Decapolis where He heals a deaf and mute man. The healing of the ears was with Jesus putting His fingers in each ear and ordering them open, and placing spit on the man's mouth and loosening the tongue to allow the man to speak clearly. Jesus commands the people not say a word about this, but the word spread quickly and people declared, "He has done everything well; He even makes the deaf and the mute speak."
MARK HIS WORDS PRAYER: Lord, let my heart be filled with purity. May what comes out of my mouth be only that which glorifies You and builds up and blesses others. May my faith in You increase daily. Unplug my ears to Your voice, and open my mouth to speak Your truth. This I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
