MARK - Jesus Teaches New Stuff
Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:
Bible Passage: Mark 7:1-23
Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.
The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating. None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.
The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”
Jesus replied:
You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,
“All of you praise me with your words, but you never really think about me.
It is useless for you to worship me, when you teach rules made up by humans.”
You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.You won't let those people help their parents. And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.
Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”
After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.
Then Jesus said:
What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.
Today's Questions:
What unclean things do you remember from Jesus list? Was there anything that you think might be in your heart that you want to get out?
If there was a list of good things in your heart, what might be in that list?
Does doing good things get us eternal life with God? If not, what does?
