The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Mark 7.1-13)

15 About this time some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses came from Jerusalem. They asked Jesus, ² “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? They don't even wash their hands^[a] before they eat.”

³ Jesus answered:

Why do you disobey God and follow your own teaching? ^4 (A) Didn't God command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ⁵ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they have has been offered to God.^{[b] 6} Is this any way to show respect to your parents? You ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. ⁷ And you are nothing but show-offs! Isaiah the prophet was right when he wrote that God had said,

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Mark 7.14-23)

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd together and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ¹¹ The food you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

¹² Then his disciples came over to him and asked, “Do you know you insulted the Pharisees by what you said?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ^14 (C) Stay away from those Pharisees! They are like blind people leading other blind people, and all of them will fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵ Peter replied, “What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?”

¹⁶ Jesus then said:

Don't any of you know by now what I am talking about? ¹⁷ Don't you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? ^18 (D) But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God. ¹⁹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. ²⁰ These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God.

A Woman's Faith

(Mark 7.24-30)

²¹ Jesus left and went to the territory near the towns of Tyre and Sidon. ²² Suddenly a Canaanite woman^[c] from there came out shouting, “Lord and Son of David,^[d] have pity on me! My daughter is full of demons.” ²³ Jesus did not say a word. But the woman kept following along and shouting, so his disciples came up and asked him to send her away.

²⁴ Jesus said, “I was sent only to the people of Israel! They are like a flock of lost sheep.”

²⁵ The woman came closer. Then she knelt down and begged, “Please help me, Lord!”

²⁶ Jesus replied, “It isn't right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs.”^[e]

²⁷ “Lord, this is true,” the woman said, “but even puppies get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table.”

²⁸ Jesus answered, “Dear woman, you really do have a lot of faith, and you will be given what you want.” At that moment her daughter was healed.

Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹ From there, Jesus went along Lake Galilee. Then he climbed a hill and sat down. ³⁰ Large crowds came and brought many people who were paralyzed or blind or lame or unable to talk. They placed them, and many others, in front of Jesus, and he healed them all. ³¹ Everyone was amazed at what they saw and heard. People who had never spoken could now speak. The lame were healed, the paralyzed could walk, and the blind were able to see. Everyone was praising the God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

(Mark 8.1-10)

³² Jesus called his disciples together and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry. They might faint on their way home.”

³³ His disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴ Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread^[f] and a few little fish.”

³⁵ After Jesus had told the people to sit down, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He then broke them and handed them to his disciples, who passed them around to the crowds.

³⁷ Everyone ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

³⁸ There were 4,000 men who ate, not counting the women and children.

³⁹ After Jesus had sent the crowds away, he got into a boat and sailed across the lake. He came to shore near the town of Magadan.^[g]

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Matthew 15.1-9)

7 Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.^[a]

³ The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way^[b] before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.^[c]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

^6 (A) Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

⁸ You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. ⁹ You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! ^10 (B) Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ¹¹ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.^{[d] 12} You won't let those people help their parents. ¹³ And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Matthew 15.10-20)

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”^[e]

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

A Woman's Faith

(Matthew 15.21-28)

²⁴ Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. ²⁵ A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”^[f]

²⁸ The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk

³¹ Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis.^{[g] 32} Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.

³³ After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue. ³⁴ Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!”^[h] which means “Open up!” ³⁵ At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.

³⁶ Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. ³⁷ They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”