Mark - Lesson 11

Lesson 11

Hypocrisy or Religiosity?

Mark 7:1–37

Son of Man, Son of God

Studies in Mark’s Gospel

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

Lesson 10 covered two of the most well known signs Jesus did to show that He was not just the Son of Man, but Son of God: the feeding of the 5,000 and His walking on the water.  The disciples had returned from their short-term mission trip and were trying to find a little rest.  However, when Jesus saw the vast crowds that followed Him, rather than ignoring them in favor of the Twelve, He was moved by compassion (an empathy one can feel welling up in the gut, leading to doing something about it).  He miraculously fed not just 5,000 men, but possibly up to 20,000 counting women and children!  Jesus’ tired disciples didn’t learn from this lesson of faith, so He had to implement another means: forcing them into peril by sending them across the sea to the other side while He stayed there.  Once again a storm or at a least violent wind arose and their lives were in jeopardy.  Jesus came to them, walking on the water, and delivered them once again.  From these experiences we learned:  that a selfless life of practical compassion is required for successful Christian service; that Jesus can take the little that we have and turn it to much beyond what we’d even imagine; that the boat of our life without Jesus on it is heading for disaster; and that when we think He’s passing us by, He is working to show us His glory, and will be there for us in all times of trial and testing.

This week we will read of the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus coming to a head, and if the Pharisees had the power at that time to have someone executed, it might have happened then!  Religion had become hypocritical, sterile, and dead under the leadership of the Pharisees, and compromised with the world under the Sadducees. Let’s see what we can learn from Mark 7 as we turn to it now.

DAY ONE: Religious Fault Finders

Please carefully read Mark 7:1-7 and answer the following questions.

1.  It appears a group of Pharisees and Scribes followed Jesus around to monitor His actions so they would find a reason to criticize Him.[i] What did they observe about the disciples that they latched onto, and how did Mark explain this to his Roman audience (v. 2-4)?

2.   What accusing question did they ask Jesus (v. 5)?

Sidelight:  Clean and Unclean

As we read in our Introduction, since the days of the Jews’ Babylonian Captivity, the religious leaders had been developing and instituting an oral law and interpretations of what the Scriptures really meant in their viewpoint.  These became viewed as having the highest religious authority for Judaism, and in a sense supplanted the Scripture.[ii] A tradition; the Greek word paradosis, was something delivered by someone to a second person to keep or care for. A tradition therefore meant instructions handed down from one generation to another, to be observed by following generations. Holding is krateo, to keep carefully and faithfully.[iii] At issue here wasn’t whether Jesus’ disciples were practicing good hygiene.  Rather it was all about their notion of being clean versus unclean (koinais, “common”).  As Mark explained to his Gentile readers, this meant ceremonially unwashed, denoting whatever was contaminated according to their religious rituals was unfit to be called holy or devoted to God.[iv]  They literally believed that sin, evil, and uncleanness could be transmitted from objects and from other people.  The Pharisees took this to an extreme, and in a sense very few in Judaism would even have the ability to try to maintain a state of religious purity as they defined it.  Thus their tradition excluded the vast amount of the Jews let alone the Gentile peoples.  The whole notion of ritual cleanness was thus the heart of what the Pharisees were all about.  It was that heart (or perhaps better the lack of it) Jesus attacked because of their ongoing hypocrisy.

3.  How did Jesus respond to this accusation, and bring the conflict the Pharisees had with Him to a head (v. 6, 7)?

4.  The word hypocrite comes from the Greek hupocrites; hupo means under, and krino means to judge, and originally meant one who judged from under the cover of a mask, assuming an identity and a character which he was not; an actor on the Greek stage, taking the part of another. The Pharisees were religious actors so to speak in that they pretended to be on the outside what they were not on the inside.[v]  They honored God externally, not from the heart, teaching their own commands rather than the Word of God as revealed.  This a clear mark of religion (or a cult for that matter) versus what Christianity is, a living relationship with God.  Religion always finds fault with others and substitutes external actions for a living walk with God, taking the Word of God away from the common person and substituting its own version. 

The Jews were supposed to be a light to the world, a living witness to the nations.  Rather, these leaders fulfilled the passage Jesus quoted from Isaiah.  Read Isaiah 29:13-16 and record how it applies to religious hypocrisy.  Also, what are some things that Paul warned about how believers should respond to these types of so-called teachers that might come along (Colossians 2:8, 16, 20-23)?

Scripture Memory:  This week we will be memorizing Mark 7:21a, 23.  Review the passage several times throughout the day each day this week, and by the end of the week, you should have it memorized completely.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts... All these evil things come from within and defile a man. Mark 7:21a, 23 (nkjv)