Mark 7
The Message (MSG)
The Source of Your
Pollution
7 1-4
The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from
Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren’t
being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general,
in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual
hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from
the market (to say nothing of the scourings they’d give jugs and pots and
pans).
5 The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, “Why do your
disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their
hands?”
6-8 Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:These people make a big show of saying the right thing,but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they are worshiping me,but they don’t mean it.They just use me as a cove
for teaching whatever suits their fancy,Ditching God’s commandand taking up the latest fads.”
9-13 He went on, “Well, good for
you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following
the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and,
‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel out of
that by saying that it’s perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift!
What I owed you I’ve given as a gift to God,’ thus relieving yourselves of
obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God’s Word and scrawl a whim in
its place. You do a lot of things like this.”
14-15 Jesus called the crowd together again and said,
“Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that
pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”
17 When he was back home after being with the crowd, his
disciples said, “We don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”
18-19 Jesus said, “Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t
you see that what you swallow can’t contaminate you? It doesn’t enter your heart
but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed.”
(That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are
fit to eat.)
20-23 He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that
pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity,
deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all
these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your
pollution.”
24-26 From there Jesus set out for
the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn’t think he would be
found, but he couldn’t escape notice. He was barely inside when a woman who had
a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging
for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure
her daughter.
27 He said, “Stand in line and take your turn. The
children get fed first. If there’s any left over, the dogs get it.”
28 She said, “Of course, Master. But don’t dogs under the
table get scraps dropped by the children?”
29-30 Jesus was impressed. “You’re right! On your way!
Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone.” She went
home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for
good.
31-35 Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon
back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. Some people
brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing
hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man’s ears
and some spit on the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned
mightily, and commanded, “Ephphatha!—Open up!” And it happened. The man’s
hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that.
36-37 Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked
it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. “He’s done it all and
done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the
speechless.”
The Message (MSG)
The Source of Your
Pollution
7 1-4
The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from
Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren’t
being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general,
in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual
hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from
the market (to say nothing of the scourings they’d give jugs and pots and
pans).
5 The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, “Why do your
disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their
hands?”
6-8 Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:These people make a big show of saying the right thing,but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they are worshiping me,but they don’t mean it.They just use me as a cove
for teaching whatever suits their fancy,Ditching God’s commandand taking up the latest fads.”
9-13 He went on, “Well, good for
you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following
the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and,
‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel out of
that by saying that it’s perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift!
What I owed you I’ve given as a gift to God,’ thus relieving yourselves of
obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God’s Word and scrawl a whim in
its place. You do a lot of things like this.”
14-15 Jesus called the crowd together again and said,
“Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that
pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”
17 When he was back home after being with the crowd, his
disciples said, “We don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”
18-19 Jesus said, “Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t
you see that what you swallow can’t contaminate you? It doesn’t enter your heart
but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed.”
(That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are
fit to eat.)
20-23 He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that
pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity,
deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all
these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your
pollution.”
24-26 From there Jesus set out for
the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn’t think he would be
found, but he couldn’t escape notice. He was barely inside when a woman who had
a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging
for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure
her daughter.
27 He said, “Stand in line and take your turn. The
children get fed first. If there’s any left over, the dogs get it.”
28 She said, “Of course, Master. But don’t dogs under the
table get scraps dropped by the children?”
29-30 Jesus was impressed. “You’re right! On your way!
Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone.” She went
home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for
good.
31-35 Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon
back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. Some people
brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing
hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man’s ears
and some spit on the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned
mightily, and commanded, “Ephphatha!—Open up!” And it happened. The man’s
hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that.
36-37 Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked
it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. “He’s done it all and
done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the
speechless.”