Christ Church Washington D.C.

Well, before I read our sermon text today, namely Mark 7, all of it, quick explanation on the series again, because it is admittedly a little unconventional as we’re taking significantly larger hunks of text than would be our custom. And there is a method to our madness here, I can assure you. It’s really twofold. We wanted to go through a gospel, and it turns out that after Amos, there was 16 weeks left
officially, and there are 16 chapters in the book of Marks. And so we decided just to run with it and to take a different approach rather than doing a slower, deep dive. You can think of this series as more of a power walk approach to get over four months a strong, broad sweep of the life and the ministry of our Lord. And then after Mark, we’ll slow down again some. But for now, make sure your belt is fastened and your arms and legs stay inside the vehicle at all times today.
We behold the glory of Jesus Christ and his power and his compassion in Mark 7, which I will read now. Mark 7. And do give careful attention to the reading of God’s holy and inspired word.
Mark 7. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus,
In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God, but hold fast to the tradition of men. And he said to them, Oh, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandments of God in order to establish your tradition. For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother.
And whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, if a man tells his father or mother, Well, whatever you would have gained from me is actually Corban. That is, it’s been given to God. Then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.
And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about this parable. He said to them,
And from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile the person.
From there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him, and she came and she fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
And she answered him, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. And he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and she found her child lying in bed and the demon was gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee.
And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. And they begged him to lay his hand on him and taking him aside from the crowd privately. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. And after spitting, he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and he said to him,
And he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Our Lord and our God, we thank you for Christ and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
It exposed us spiritually, now vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and his minions. As the Apostle Paul says, our primary battlefront is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, dark forces. It also had a very physical impact. Our bodies would be afflicted.
They would now ultimately die. And in Mark 7, we see Jesus Christ engaging with each one of these sin-wrought realities. The bentness of our hearts, our spiritual battles, and our feeble bodies. But even more, we’ll see that Jesus did not come to worth just to confirm our grim diagnosis. Rather, he came in power.
To deliver us from all the maladies of sin that sin had cast upon his people. Or, as Isaac Watts pronounced, he came to make his blessings flow as far as the curse was found. And with that, let’s turn to our text, and we’ll take it with these three main categories in sight that kind of follow the flow of the text. Heart, spiritual war, and body. We’ll see his power.
First, we’ll see his power to expose our hypocritical, sin-bent hearts. Beginning in verses 1 through 13, and it starts with the Pharisees teaming up again to confront our Lord. It says they came down from Jerusalem to do so. Now, it should be noticed the distance from Jerusalem to Galilee was 90 miles.
It’s this. That Jesus’ disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate. To which I say, if they only knew the eating habits of my four-year-old, they would be totally undone. But of course, there’s much more going on here. This was not about simple hygiene.
So what’s that mean? That’s actually a really important question. This is key to understanding the dynamic between Jesus and the confrontation, the hostility with the Pharisees, and their dynamic of lording that over the common people.
Understand that the Pharisees were the religious leaders who enforced the laws, namely God’s laws. However, over time, they had come up with hundreds and hundreds of laws that were not actually in the Bible, but which had been added as safeguards against breaking the law of God from the Bible.
The problem is, they had then, seeing that this gave them great power, elevated these rituals to the level of Scripture. And side note, a general rule in this world is the more corrupt society becomes, the more laws and regulations increase. Something we might know a little bit about in our day. As Chesterton said,
Interestingly, when Jesus came, he did the exact opposite. He took the ten, he boiled it down into two. Love God, love each other. That’s the entirety of the law.
If you can do that. But the Pharisees went in the opposite direction. They piled laws on top of laws. And to be clear, to give clarity to what’s happening, this is what legalism is. Legalism is not being too strict about obeying the Bible. You can’t be too strict about obeying the Bible. You ought to obey the Bible. No, it’s making rules that are not in the Bible as authoritative as the Bible.
And then judging others when they don’t follow your rules, the fence that you had put in front of the scriptures. For instance, the Bible says, don’t get drunk. So the legalist says, well, if you don’t ever drink, you can never be in danger of getting drunk. Ergo, drinking is sinful. Which is a problem because the Bible says in Psalm 104 that God made wine to gladden the heart of man. Now, of course, you can also get drunk with wine.
And you must not do that either. So we have the twin ditches in this fallen world of legalism on the one hand, which says God forbids what in fact he has not, and then license on the other, using that freedom as a cover to actually sin. And the mature Christian sees both ditches and drives down the path of Christian freedom grounded in glad obedience to the word. But back to the Pharisees.
Intessential legalists traveling 90 miles to tattletale about something that was not, in fact, a sin, while themselves eaten up all over with egregious, overt lawbreaking and wickedness. Our Lord points to their cleverly running roughshod over the fifth commandment.
Honor and care for your parents. They would do this through a practice that was called Corbin. So what’s that mean? Essentially, that meant rather than using the inheritance or the resources that you would use to care for your elderly parents, you’d promise that once you died, you’d offer that to the temple. I’m going to give it to God. I’m so holy that I actually can’t care for you.
The financial pinch of having to sacrifice to care for your parents. All while feeling quite spiritually shiny the whole time. Oh, how bent is the human heart. How masterful of a defense attorney. Able to justify our most unjustifiable moments while straining gnats and swallowing camels, as our Lord will say elsewhere. And so our Lord goes hard at them.
On their hypocrisy. On their sin-bent, eaten-up hearts. Explaining that Isaiah, their beloved prophet, was actually talking about them when he said this. This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship me, because they teach as doctrine the commandments of men.
Jesus is the truth. And this harsh, exposing light is the grace of God to reveal our great need for a heart transplant that would replace the heart of stone with a heart of flesh that would actually hunger and thirst for true righteousness now.
It’s all of us. We see this in verses 14 through 23. Jesus makes the point clear as he now turns to the crowds and his disciples. He says in verses 14 through 16, hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside of a person that by going in can defile him, but it’s the things that come out of a person that actually defiles him.
And in the context, we know Jesus is still speaking in the vein of law keeping. So this is not just a treatise on the human condition generally, but he’s still actively undermining, instigating the authority of the Pharisees who had the power to say who was clean or who was unclean. And Jesus is now sunsetting that entire notion. He’s taking that authority away from them.
He cannot blame or point to anything external as the cause of true uncleanness. Rather, it’s what leaks out naturally out of all of us that came from our hearts within us that exposes the real problem with the human condition. Well, the disciples are a little slow on the upstart as we would have been as well. And so after the crowds leave, when it wouldn’t be so embarrassing, they go to the Lord and ask him,
what did you actually mean by all of that? We weren’t actually tracking. And our Lord essentially says, really? That wasn’t obvious? Let me spell it out. Consider these two realities about humanity. Contrast these two things. You eat food, the miracle of digestion happens, it converts the good stuff into energy, expels the rest, on you go. Now, so that’s one reality.
You’re this reality. You have evil thoughts, naturally. You commit sexual immorality, either by acting out on it or by lusting. Humans murder, humans steal, humans commit adultery, humans envy. So what is the fundamental problem with humanity, ultimately? Something external that goes in or something internal that causes all of that to come out?
And when put like that, it becomes crystal clear that the problem is not what’s in your grocery cart, unclean food. The problem is what’s in your sinful heart that leaks out in all of these ways. And to really understand the significance of what Jesus was getting at within this Jewish culture, Mark makes a passing commentary note that might seem insignificant on the surface, but in fact,
at an earth-shaking transformation that our Lord was bringing about through these words. Mark says in verse 19, so casually, thus he declared all foods clean. Or to say it another way, he was now sunsetting all of Israel’s ceremonial law. So what does that mean and why does that matter?
So bear with me for a second. The Old Testament law had several layers or buckets which fell into three primary, though not airtight, but three primary categories. You had the moral law and the civil law and the ceremonial law. The moral laws are universal and eternal. They’re always in effect. They cannot be rolled back because they are grounded in the nature of God himself.
You cannot murder and you cannot lie. That was moral, immutable law because God in his very person is justice, is for life, is truth. And so that’s always in effect. Then there are the civil laws, which were the law of the land for the nation of Israel and which we today can still draw principles from.
And how that affected one’s ability to go to worship or to sacrifice. If you got unclean, there was a process to go through to enter back into the life and the liturgical life of Israel. But they weren’t grounded in creational or moral realities necessarily. Rather, they were instituted by God to make obvious to Israel that they were a holy people.
It was teaching them with grammar school simplicity that they were set apart from the rest of the world. And with the coming of Jesus, these laws were now sunsetting because he was the fulfillment of them. The cross was the fulfillment of every cleanliness law and every ceremonial law in the Torah.
And so Mark helps us read between the lines here. There is no food or drink or lack of hand washing that in themselves defiles a person or can cleanse a person. And even the apostles won’t fully grasp this until Acts 10. This is when Peter has his aha moment. So you can read that on your own time this week.
Now verses 24 through 30.
Mark mentions how our Lord, in his humanity, was hoping to go there to fly under the radar and to likely see some respites. However, in his sovereign wisdom, our Lord also knows that there is necessary and essential ministry to accomplish there as well. And so it is.
And having just looked at the discussion between what makes a person clean and unclean, we see our Lord pressing into this unclean category in a way that expands and transforms our understanding.
Of what God intends to accomplish through the gospel. For you do not get more un-Jewish, more unclean, more person to be avoided in that time than a demon-possessed Gentile. So how will our Lord respond to this woman? This woman who somehow has gotten word that this man has the power to do something that I am completely powerless to do.
How will he respond? Before we consider that, something else we must zoom out on and acknowledge as straightforward from the text is that the spiritual realm is real. Spiritual warfare is real. Satan and demons are real. And they really do hate God, and they really do hate the image of God and the glory of God,
and destroy and disfigure humanity. We see this in Job. We see this in 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul says that he had a persistent affliction, a thorn that came through a messenger from Satan that was sent to harass him. So there is a very real spiritual battle raging in the world around us, even right this second.
It will look like, and this is important for reading the story, it will look like trying to obscure and surgically obfuscate. That’s not how you say that word, but you get the point. Trying to confuse, trying to blur the lines between man and woman. And the creational glory of God in declaring them such, it will look like that.
Because Satan hates the image of God and the glory of God in that. It looks like calling baby dismemberment health care rights. It looks like vulgar hostility to the proclamation of the pure gospel. So make no mistake. Our primary battle is not against flesh and blood. And this account only further confirms this. Back to the text.
Well, initially, he seems to respond somewhat harshly. He says, it’s not right to give the children’s bread to dogs. That is, while the gospel would go out to the Gentiles, we see it all over the book of Acts, Jesus came first to confront Israel and to offer her bread. That is, salvation, manna from heaven through the Messiah.
He came first to the Jews, not first to the Gentiles. And some people have stumbled over our Lord’s words here. Isn’t Christ being decidedly un-Christlike by saying this? Why would he do it? Well, I believe our Lord is pressure testing the faith of this woman. He’s pressure testing her faith. Can she be easily dissuaded or does she truly trust?
That he is who he says he is and has the power to do what she knows he can. There is one grammatical note that softens it some. The word for dog here is actually in the diminutive. It’s more like puppy rather than mangy scavenger. So that helps a little bit, but it’s still dog. Still not great. At the same time, the point is made clear. I came first to feed Israel. That’s my first priority.
We see this Gentile woman’s faith is made of sturdy stuff. And her simple faith towers over that of the professional theologians. And Jesus’ words only cause her to tighten her grasp on him. I love how she responds. She says, yes, Lord, but don’t even puppies sometimes get crumbs when the children drop them. This is an amazing faith. This is a precious faith.
This is a beautiful picture of gritty faith that knows Jesus, and Jesus alone has the power to save. Or as he would say in the Gospel of John, when he said to the disciples, do you want to go? Where else would we go? There is nowhere else to go. You alone have the words of eternal life. And we see that in this Gentile woman, and she will not let go of Jesus.
Jesus commends her with great compassion, great demonstration of divine power. From a distance of physical miles, he commands the demon to leave. He tells the demon to leave. Now, Mark doesn’t actually recount our Lord verbalizing this. But we know somehow, whether internally or vocally, the command was given because when she got back, the demon was gone.
The demon had fled. Jesus Christ is the champion in our spiritual war. And He and He alone can send the demons hightailing it away from His people. And it’s not even hard for Him. Now we turn to the last scene in chapter 7, where our Lord displays His power over the effects of sin on our physical, actual body.
Verses 31 through 37, He has now traveled southeast, back nearer to the Sea of Galilee, a region called the Decapolis, the Ten Cities. And word continues to spread about His incredible power to bring relief to our suffering. So that some folks bring to Him a man who is deeply afflicted. This is a deeply afflicted man. Specifically, He’s deaf and He has a speech impediment.
Caught up together. And this is an affliction that cuts straight to the core of our image bearing. Our God is a God who speaks, who creates with words, who resounds with singing. And when that is inhibited, when our words are bound up within us, it is terrible suffering. If you’ve ever suffered with a stutter, you’ll have a taste of the strange visceral pain this can cause.
But Jesus first does something unexpected. And I think it’s very powerful. The text says that he took the man aside, away from the watching eyes of the crowd. He was not going to make this man a spectacle. He takes him away from the crowds. He deals with him very carefully.
Very personally. And with a level of tenderness that frankly makes us moderns a bit uncomfortable. He puts his fingers in the ears of the man. And then he puts some saliva on his finger. And he touches the man’s tongue. That is, he meets this man away from the crowds directly, personally, viscerally, in the place of his greatest pain.
And frankly, in the place of his greatest helplessness. And then Jesus does three things. He looked to heaven, the source of his power. He sighed, which is an expression of deep love and sympathy for this man. And then he spoke. He said, be opened. And immediately, at the word of Jesus Christ, this man’s ears were opened.
And his tongue was released and loosened and freed and came back to the crowd, healed and made whole. And they were, as Mark says, I love it how it’s translated here, astonished beyond measure at the marvelous things that Jesus had the power to do. And so this is the main thing I want for us today, beloved.
Astonished beyond measure, believing beyond measure like the Gentile woman in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The astonishing manifold power. Power to straighten everything sin bent. Power to make blessings flow as far as the curse is found. From our sinful hearts that no law keeping could ever cleanse, but which he cleansed through his blood and set us free.
So that you are no longer a slave to your sin. You are no longer to be tormented by your shame. But you can pursue the joy and the freedom of pursuing righteousness and holiness. And may we stand astonished at his power over Satan and his demons. Where he can send them running with the word. So that you, Christian, need not fear any spiritual oppression in this land. But can walk with a jovial swagger in power.
And in victory in the name of Jesus Christ. Because yes, the forces of evil can be a nuisance. They can shriek and they can wail. But they possess no power over those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And may you stand astonished at Jesus’ power to mend and to repair even our broken bodies. So that we would pray boldly for healing when faced with any affliction in this congregation.
He moved with compassion for the suffering of His people as we saw today. He took that suffering man in His arms and in His embrace. And with divine love and power, He repaired him, sighing deeply with His eyes to heaven in His spirit. However, we must acknowledge, even here, that even if Jesus does heal us now, which He has the power to do, we will still ultimately die.
In physical healing today. But this is the best part of the story. Because even death has no power over you anymore to tyrannize you with fear. Because Jesus, in His power, He has defanged even death itself. And all the terror it has struck in the heart of man since Adam brought this curse upon our head.
And so Christian, behold the manifold power of Christ. Behold what Christ has wrought for you. And walk in the joy and the confidence and the freedom that is all yours through your union with the risen Christ. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Chapter, the power of Jesus. And we say yes and amen and we do believe, but we’ll walk out tomorrow morning and we will be tempted towards unbelief. And so I pray, Holy Spirit, you would strengthen us in faith, in Christ, in practical ways where we need it most this week. That he might be glorified and his power manifested through his church. And now we would pray the way our Lord taught us to pray.
Amen.
Amen. Let us now arise and respond with a most fitting hymn from Psalm 121.
Let us pray.
God bless
Amen.
and the Lord Jesus.
God.
God.
God.
I