Saturday, June 13, 2026
Mark 7:1-13
The Tradition of the Elders
7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders, 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash, and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
9 Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God), 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus nullifying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”
The state of first-century Pharisaism was precarious, to say the least. Israel was under Roman occupation. Messianic hopes had been raised—and crushed—more than once. And society was increasingly stratified by wealth and status. Under that pressure, many Pharisees doubled down on a central hope: if Israel kept the law faithfully, God would finally set things right.
It isn’t hard to paint the Pharisees in a negative light. The Gospels give us plenty of moments where their interactions with Jesus don’t look great. But if we want to understand them, we also have to remember their humanity: they were afraid, squeezed by circumstances, and hoping that law-keeping could repair their relationship with God—and secure their future.
That’s what makes this passage so sad. What God wanted from them—and from us—was their hearts. Beautiful and broken, sinner and saint: God wants our hearts before God wants our actions. But their priorities had flipped. Jesus points to a practice called Corban: people could declare money or resources “given to God,” and then use that pledge as a reason not to support their aging parents. It was technically religious, but it violated the heart of the law—and the people they were called to be.
We can do the same thing, can’t we? We can cling to rigid religious habits while resisting what the Holy Spirit is doing right in front of us. What spiritual practices, traditions, or assumptions about God might be inhibiting your discipleship right now? And where have you seen church people (maybe even yourself) value tradition over God’s heart for love, mercy, and justice?
– Pr. Jason
Jesus, help me to hold my plans, tradition, and purposes loosely so that i can hold onto your Spirit tightly. Amen.
