Mark 7 explained: What Makes a Person Unclean

The handwashing dispute (vv. 1-8)

Leaders from Jerusalem notice the disciples skipping a ritual handwashing that teachers had added over time, a washing about religious purity rather than germs. Jesus answers with Isaiah's words about people who honor God with their lips while their hearts are far away.

The Corban loophole (vv. 9-13)

Corban was a vow setting money or property apart for God, and under this teaching such a vow could stop someone from using it to support aging parents. Jesus says a human rule was being used to cancel God's command to honor father and mother.

Food versus the heart (vv. 14-23)

Jesus says food cannot make a person unclean before God, because it simply passes through the body, while real harm comes out of the heart. Mark adds a side comment that this meant no food was unclean, setting aside the Jewish food laws for his readers.

A Greek mother persists (vv. 24-30)

Near Tyre, outside Jewish land, a Greek woman begs Jesus to free her daughter, and he answers that the children (Israel) must eat first, likening others to dogs. The reply is jarring and scholars debate its tone, but her quick comeback about crumbs wins her daughter's healing.

A deaf man hears (vv. 31-37)

In the Decapolis, another largely non-Jewish region, Jesus heals a deaf man privately with touch and the Aramaic word Ephphatha, meaning "Be opened." Christians often read the crowd's praise in light of Isaiah's promise that the deaf would hear when God came to rescue his people.

Key verse: Mark 7:15

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Mark's side comment about food means Jesus himself set aside the Jewish food laws, or whether that was a later conclusion drawn from a saying mainly about handwashing and the heart.

Something to think about

When a rule you follow and the reason behind it seem to pull in different directions, how do you decide which one matters more?