9 Jan - Mark 7

Today we read Mark 7 in the Tattoo Church Reading Plan. This is one of my favorite (I have a lot of favorites so just hang in there.) Let’s take a look together:

1. We read right away about these guys called Pharisees and teachers of the law. The Pharisees were high up religious leaders of that day. These religious leaders start questioning Jesus and his apprentices about why they did not follow the religious traditions everyone else has been following.
2. Jesus takes a harsher path than most people would picture him taking. Jesus calls these guys a bunch of hypocrites! Telling them they have let go of what God considers important a long time ago in order to follow rules and traditions that men put in place.
3. One of these such things was a rule called “Corban.” It was a rule that said a person could declare some money or something with monetary value as a gift to God and give it to the religious leaders. But the religious leaders were allowing (maybe even encouraging) people to take money and designate it as Corban. Money that should have been spent on taking care of their parents. Jesus said this made God furious! 

I love this section because it shows the heart of God. God wants a relationship with us not for us to mindlessly follow some stupid set of rules. You see, God had set a system in place that kids would take care of their parents as they got older. There was no Social Security back then and so this system that God made ensured people too old to work would still be cared for. However, the religious leaders corrupted the system in order to get rich. 

We still see corruption like this done in church and in the name of God today and Jesus clearly said it makes him furious. God is not all about your money like people often think. Trust me he doesn’t need it but he does want our obedience. These religious leaders were manipulating the God’s system in order to take advantage of people and it hindered people’s access to God. Jesus said, “Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.” He was telling them to worry less about what traditions you follow and more about the condition of your heart before God. 

What about us? Are we more concerned with what traditions or rules we are following? Or are we most focused on keeping our relationship with God healthy by keeping our hearts in tune with what he is telling us? Maybe you don’t believe in Jesus or like Christianity because of what people who claim to be Christians have done, which I can understand. If that’s you does reading what Jesus says to the fake religious leaders change your mind at all about Jesus or his teachings? The truth is a lot of what Jesus did while he was here on earth was to show people that they had it all wrong. They didn’t really understand God and the love he had for them. Maybe that’s you today? Maybe the things you don’t like about “Christianity” are things God doesn’t like either. Feel free to comment.