God’s Law and Human Tradition
7 The Pharisees gathered round Jesus, together with some legal experts from Jerusalem. 2 They saw that some of his disciples were eating their food with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands.
3 (The Pharisees, you see – and indeed all the Jews – don’t eat unless they first carefully wash their hands. This is to maintain the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come in from the market, they never eat without washing. There are many other traditions which they keep: washings of cups, pots and bronze dishes.)
5 Anyway, the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat their food with unwashed hands?’
6 ‘Isaiah summed you up just right,’ Jesus replied. ‘Hypocrites, the lot of you! What he said was this:
With their lips this people honour me,
but with their hearts they turn away from me;
7 all in vain they think to worship me,
all they teach is human commands.
8 ‘You abandon God’s commands, and keep human tradition!
9 ‘So,’ he went on, ‘you have a fine way of setting aside God’s command so as to maintain your tradition. 10 Here’s an example: Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother,” and, “Anyone who slanders father or mother should die.” 11 But you say, “If someone says to their father or mother, ‘What you might get from me – it’s Korban!’ ” (which means, ‘given-to-God’), 12 you don’t let them do anything else for their father or mother! 13 The net result is that you invalidate God’s word through this tradition which you hand on. And there are lots more things like that which you do.’
Clean and Unclean
14 Jesus summoned the crowd again.
‘Listen to me, all of you,’ he said, ‘and get this straight. 15 What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out from inside.’
17 When they got back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18 ‘You didn’t get it either?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that whatever goes into someone from outside can’t make them unclean? 19 It doesn’t go into the heart; it only goes into the stomach, and then carries on, out down the drain.’ (Result: all foods are clean.)
20 ‘What makes someone unclean’, he went on, ‘is what comes out of them. 21 Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts – sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. 23 These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.’
The Syrophoenician Woman
24 Jesus got up, left that place, and went to the region of Tyre. When he took up residence in a house, he didn’t want anyone to know, but it wasn’t possible for him to remain hidden. 25 On the contrary: news of him at once reached a woman who had a young daughter with an unclean spirit. She came and threw herself down at his feet. 26 She was Greek, a Syrophoenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 ‘Let the children eat what they want first,’ Jesus replied. ‘It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’
28 ‘Well, Master,’ she said, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop.’
29 ‘Well said!’ replied Jesus. ‘Off you go; the demon has left your daughter.’
30 So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
A Deaf and Mute Man Is Healed
31 Jesus went away from the region of Tyre, through Sidon, round towards the sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Ten Towns. 32 They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and asked that he would lay his hand on him.
33 Jesus took the man off in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. 34 Then he looked up to heaven, groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’ (that is, ‘Be opened’). 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was untied, and he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. 37 They were totally astonished.
‘Everything he does is marvellous!’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!’