Mark, Day Ten

Mark 7:1-23

• Another (very silly) reason I know Jesus is the Savior for me:  He's not concerned with hand-washing!  How is it I don't remember this little episode in Mark at all?  Seems like I should remember that religious leaders chastized Jesus' disciples for not washing their hands.  For those who don't know me - I am not a germaphobe.  Just the opposite, really.  I'm more careful if someone is sick or it's flu season just before we're about to travel, but on an average day, germs are not a big concern for me.  For example, we all share a cup for post-teeth-brushing at our house.  We share food.  We eat food that's dropped on the floor.  And we never, ever wash hands before dinner (unless they're obviously dirty).  Now, I do wash my hands when cooking (and after using the potty!), but once the cooking is done, all bets are off.  So how great is it that Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites for being worried about washed hands - hah! 
• "You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition" (v. 8, NRSV).  I think it's easy to look down on those silly Pharisees for being worried about unimportant things (like hand-washing), but how often do we abandon God's commandments (i.e. love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul & mind; and love your neighbor as yourself) in order to hold to our own traditions?  Now, I think tradition can be a great and beautiful thing.  And I don't think Jesus is saying they should throw tradition out the window.  After all, it seems Jesus himself was washing his hands, just not some of the disciples.  But when tradition becomes so inflexible that it's equated with God's command and is used to exclude those who are different, then it's a problem.  Tradition should be fluid, open to new ideas and practices, open to new people.  And it should all flow from a heart focused on God. 
• I feel like there's a lot more than could be said about this small passage, but for now I'll stop by saying that I love that the writer of Mark wrote little asides to explain to the readers what the tradition was and what Jesus' words meant (they're written in parentheses in my translation).  This writer wasn't assuming his readers were familiar with Jewish ritual, apparently.  It was nice of him to take that into account.  And something we church-goers should probably take into account more, too!  (as I experienced recently here).