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Commentaries
English
Mark
  
12. The Argument about the Washing of Hands, and the Traditions of the Elders
(Mark 7:1-13)
1Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.2Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.3For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.4When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.5Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”6He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophecy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.7And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of them.’8For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men - the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”9And He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’11But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban - (that is, a gift to God),12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,13making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”


People are used to wash their hands before they eat, for the air contains microbes, which cause several diseases. But whoever claim that external washing is necessary for justifying themselves and pleasing God spiritually are foolish and superficial, for the Holy One demands purification of the heart, and not empty rituals. A worker whose hands are dirty, for example, because of his hard work, and who believes in forgiveness of his sins by Christ’s blood, is holy in the image of his Creator, in spite of his dirty hands. But he who is clothed most gorgeously, who bathes at all times, with his heart unclean or filled with evil thoughts will certainly be put in hell in spite of his ablution and various washings.
Christ brought a radical change to all religions. He freed us from rituals, ordinances, and laws, and revealed to us the essence of prostration and its end that is the new heart. The claim of keeping all the commandments is hypocrisy and self-deceit as long as man is not born again of God. All prayers are superficial and false as long as man has not confessed his offence, saying: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” All the services we render to God are without a reward for they are coming out of the storehouses of selfishness. The natural man cannot please God with traditions of men, ordinances, and various rituals, nor with prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and almsgiving, for whichever comes out of the heart and the mind of man is unclean and unacceptable to the Holy One.
Only what comes from God is acceptable. Our righteousness offered to us by Christ is a mercy from God, and not our own work. Our sanctification is also the work of the Holy Spirit. Keeping the commandments is not our own effort. All the religions founded on keeping laws are but imagination, hypocrisy, and self-deceit, for God wants our repentance and heartbrokenness that he may fill our burning hearts with his love. Then, we will become changed in principle. We will serve our parents with reverence and gratitude, sacrifice our hopes for them, and spend time for them, giving thanks to God. Praises will crop up out of our hearts, for God has come to us in his Son, and has delivered us from the bondage of rituals.
Did you know that hypocrisy is the most infamous sin in those who appear godly, speak piously, and pray before the others, but their heart does not speak as their mouths do, and their thoughts walk away from God? Millions of prayers are false, for they do not come out of a humble heart, nor are they purified with Christ’s blood and Spirit. All profession of religion is false before God if he who prays did not commit himself entirely to the Holy One.
The danger of godliness in the way of selfishness increases as soon as the fanatic make special laws to plan the way for a special sanctification, and condemn all those who live as they do. Keep from hypocrisy. It is more dangerous than poison. It can kill love and faith with good prayer. It also blows the fat ego as a balloon before its explosion.

Prayer
O Father, we thank you because you were merciful to us sinners, and you forgave us our sins completely with the death of your only Son. Fill us with the power of your love that we may devote ourselves to you with praise and thanks, and serve, at the same time, our parents out of love. Keep us from godly pretence hypocrisy that we may take off haughtiness and zeal, and live broken before you O God. Amen.
Question
Why does washing of hands and performance of the ritual ablution has no purifying power before God?