• Read: Mark 7:1-23
A life founded on tradition can seem a very safe way to live. You are never in doubt what to do, because you just do what you have done before.
Of course, traditions soon become superstitions, with all the fear of unknown consequences should they be inadvertently broken. And of course, there is the disillusionment when, inevitably, traditions prove totally unable to safeguard the person.
Living by faith, which Jesus advocated, can seem a much more risky way to live. You have to trust someone else. Of course, when that ‘someone’ is God, you have a stable foundation for life.
But, as Jesus pointed out, the Pharisees’ tradition about washing was not without basis. It was just that they had it the wrong way round. What mattered to God was not the uncleanness of things that enter a person - but the uncleanness of what comes out. That is, the uncleanness of a person’s evil thoughts, words and deeds.
So the Pharisees were right. People did need to clean up their lives. But not with water. With the sort of sacrifice that cleanses from the inside out.
Read at Bible Gateway: Mark 7:1-23 KJV / NIV / ESV / Good News
Read at Blue Letter Bible: Mark 7:1-23 KJV / NIV / ESV
Next part: Liberation - Day 16 - Mark 7:24-37
From the series: Understanding Mark's Gospel
© 2019 K Simons