Friday 15 November 2024
Then he [Jesus] said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!" (v. 9)
Background
This week's readings have included some of the highlights of Jesus' ministry, such as feeding the 5,000 and walking on the water as well as highlighting the tremendous healing power of Jesus. Today's Bible passage brings us back down to the very sobering reality of conflict. Mark will never let us forget that, though God was behind Jesus’ ministry and the people welcomed it, there would be an ignominious end to Jesus' life on the Cross.
Our reading starts with the leaders of Jewish thought asking Jesus a very specific question (v. 5) "Why do some of Jesus' disciples eat without cleansing their hands?" We should note that these leaders have come from Jerusalem and therefore may have an official status which hints at the serious consequences which the ensuing debate may ultimately have. Very quickly the issue gets wider. Why didn’t the disciples conform their lives as a whole to the demands of the Pharisaic code, of which handwashing was only one item? This was addressed to Jesus’ first disciples, but it was also a question which would have concerned Mark’s readers who were from a Jewish background.
It's important that we remember the nature of the Pharisaic code. Jews, and Jewish Christians believed that the Pentateuch (the written law in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures) was binding. But over the years an oral code had grown up alongside the written code, making a fence around the law. Christians believed in the Pentateuch. But where did they take their stand on the additional regulations? Today’s passage makes it clear that Mark understood Jesus to be opposed to this oral tradition, or at least to aspects of it. The Pharisees would doubtless have been upset by Jesus’ critique in verse 8. In their view, the whole purpose of the oral tradition was not the evasion of the written law, as Jesus accused them, but rather its more complete and exact performance.
Verses 9-13 offer an example to support Jesus’ critique. The detail is much discussed but the basic question is which of two biblical laws one should keep when they seem to conflict? Jesus argues that the one determining human relationships has preference over the abstractly legal.
To Ponder:
- The Pharisees were motivated by their desire to keep God’s law. What, in Jesus’ view, were they getting wrong?
- Where do Christians today sometimes miss the point, and what is the point we miss?
Prayer
Help me, Lord, always to keep close to your ways and to measure my actions and attitudes by the mind of Christ. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Donald Ker
Donald Ker is a supernumerary presbyter. Originally from Ireland, he now lives in the West Midlands.