The secret of answered prayer (Mark 7:1-30)

[Stephan Choe]

January 2, 2025

Key verses 7,28-29: “But she answered and said to him, 'Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said to me, 'Go away because of this word; the evil spirit has gone out of your daughter.”

The New Year 2025 has begun. And everyone has hopes and wishes for this year. How can we experience our hope fulfilled? - By praying to God with the confidence that our prayers will be answered.

We are God's children. That is why we can ask our heavenly Father to bless our prayer requests and plans.

Today we want to gain the confidence of answered prayer through the example of a woman and become good prayers.

1. But their heart is far from me (1-23)

The first 1 and 2 verses read: “And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. And they saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean, that is, unwashed hands. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they have washed their hands with a handful of water, and so keep the statutes of the elders.”

The statutes of the elders referred to here are “the traditions of the ancients”. As early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Jewish scribes began to work out the rules for more precise observance of the commandments and statutes in the Old Testament. In doing so, they were guided by external behavior and ceremonies. For example, God commanded people not to work on the Sabbath. The scribes then defined what was considered work. According to their rules, it was considered work if you walked more than 10 steps quickly on the Sabbath. Such regulations were included in the Mishnah in the third century AD.

The Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem were probably commissioned by the rulers of Judaism to gather evidence to accuse Jesus of being a false teacher. They observed Jesus' deeds and sayings closely. When they saw that Jesus' disciples ate bread with unwashed hands, they condemned this as a violation of the statutes of the elders. However, this washing was not done for hygienic reasons, but purely as a religious ceremony. The scholars of Judaism believed that eating bread with unwashed hands would make you unclean before God. The Jews therefore observed these rules very strictly. One rabbi, who had been imprisoned by the Romans, used the water he was given as drinking water to observe the purification regulations. As a result, he almost died of thirst.

There were still many Jewish regulations such as drinking vessels, jugs, kettles, washing benches, etc. According to these regulations, a dish would be unclean, for example, if a Gentile or a woman who had given birth to a baby had touched it.

Jesus' disciples were like lively 5th or 6th grade high school students. When they found something tasty, they immediately took it in their hands and put it in their mouths.

When the Pharisees and scribes noticed that Jesus' disciples were not keeping the statutes of the elders, they said to Jesus: “Why do your disciples not live according to the statutes of the elders, but eat bread with unclean hands?” They threatened to accuse Jesus of being a false teacher and his group of being a sect. With their threat, they tried to make Jesus lose the courage to actively proclaim God's word for fear of them. They were like wolves standing before the sheep, grasping. Jesus' disciples were probably in fear and doubt whether they had abandoned the right doctrine of faith.

How did Jesus behave in this situation?

Jesus first rebuked them for their hypocrisy.

Verse 6 gives us his rebuke: “But he said to them: “How well Jesus prophesied of your hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me'.”

Jesus named the Pharisees' falsehood precisely: their hypocrisy. On the outside they appeared to be pious, but in their hearts they were selfish and sinful. They were under the power of the devil. That is why Jesus thundered at the power of the devil that controlled their hearts and minds.

Therefore, Jesus said, “How well Isaiah prophesied of your hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (6).

Outwardly, the Pharisees were pious and traditionally orthodox. But their hearts were far from God. This means that in their hearts they did not believe in God and his love.

That is why they hardly had a thankful heart towards God. They had little desire to glorify God and lead unbelieving people to God. Rather, they selfishly condemned others as ungodly and wanted to glorify their own name. Because of their selfishness, they could not rejoice in the gracious, powerful work of Jesus.

The false teaching of the Pharisees shows us that observing religious rules and ceremonies cannot free people from sin. We can only receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection. If, after our repentance, we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and in his sacrificial death and resurrection, we receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life free of charge. This is the good news of God for all people. If we accept this gospel, we have eternal life and the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit testifies to us that we are God's children. That is why we become very grateful to God, so that we can love and obey God from the heart.

In verses 7-9, Jesus mentions the falsehood of the Pharisees.

Jesus rebuked them secondly because they forsake God's commandment and establish human statutes:

“In vain do they serve me, because they teach such doctrines as are nothing but commandments of men. You forsake the commandment of God and keep the statutes of men. How subtly you set aside the commandment of God to establish your own statutes!”

Because the Pharisees replaced God's commandment with human regulations, Jesus rebuked them harshly. Originally, the scribes had good intentions of keeping God's commandments in people's practical lives. But they emphasized their regulations more than God's commandments. So God's wish was ignored, and the rules became a great burden for the people. And they zealously taught these precepts and condemned others who did not keep their precepts properly as reprobates.

Doctrines or precepts might initially have been given for good motives. But when people ignore the core message of God and emphasize precepts, people's hearts are removed from the heart of God. God's Word reveals God's heart and His love for people. For example, God's word in John 3:16 reads:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The precepts of Judaism later became a reason why Christianity separated from Judaism.

In verses 14-15, Jesus gave the people a spiritual riddle. He said to them: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing that goes into a man from the outside that can defile him, but what comes out of a man is what defiles him.”

Do we understand what Jesus meant by this riddle?

Jesus' disciples could not immediately understand what Jesus meant.

That is why Jesus explained his riddle in verses 18-23: “Are you also so ignorant? Do you not realize that whatever enters a man from the outside cannot defile him? For it does not go into his heart, but into his belly, and comes out into the pit.”

Jesus was thus explaining that all the food we eat does not make us unclean, i.e. make us sinful. But out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, covetousness, malice, wickedness, debauchery, envy, blasphemy, pride, unreasonableness, etc., and these make people sinful before God.

So we can summarize Jesus' teaching here as follows: “Food does not make us sinful, but sinful thoughts in our hearts.”

All foods, such as pork, frog meat, etc., are pure if they are good for us in terms of health, good for us. And all sins begin in the heart of man. And the true washing must be done in our heart. No religious ceremony, no matter what it may be called, can wash our hearts clean of sin.

But we do have an effective way to wash away sin. When we repent of our sin and believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, God blots out all our sin and makes us his children. This gives us the Holy Spirit and eternal life.  And Jesus comes into our hearts through the Holy Spirit and leads us to the kingdom of heaven. That is why God's word is John 3:16:

For God so loved us, that he gave us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

2 The answer to the prayer of a Syro-Phoenician woman (24-31)

Up to now, Jesus has mainly worked in Galilee (1:2 - 7:24). Now he works in the Gentile region north of Galilee (7:24 - 9:50), then in Perea (chapter 10 and finally in Jerusalem (11-16). 

In the Gentile region north of Galilee, he devoted himself to prayer and the education of disciples in preparation for his death on the cross and his resurrection.

Jesus went from Galilee to the region of Tyre, went into a house and did not want anyone to know. Tyre was one of the Syro-Phoenician port cities on the Mediterranean and was located about 65 km northwest of Capernaum. The Phoenician lands stretched along the Mediterranean coast, so that the Galileans could only reach the coast via Phoenician land. Politically, this area belonged to Syria, so it was called “Syro-Phoenicia”.

Jesus did not want to remain in an endless dispute with the Pharisees. Rather, he wanted to take time to test his messianic work before God through prayer and to educate his disciples as his followers.

However, Jesus could not remain hidden because a woman heard about him and sought him out with particular zeal. When she found him, she fell at his feet and asked him to free her daughter from the evil spirit.

What did Jesus say to her?

He said to her: “Let the children first be filled; it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs” (27). The woman could be hurt by Jesus' seemingly dismissive, insulting response, because Jesus compared her - a Gentile - to the dogs, and the Israelites to the children. But this woman was still not hurt. Rather, she was humble and wise. She agreed that she was actually unworthy of claiming Jesus' help. She firmly believed that Jesus was merciful. She continued to ask him for help with humor: “Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.”

We can see her response as her prayer to Jesus and learn from her the wisdom of prayer. Despite our unworthiness and apparent rejection, we should humbly yet persistently ask God for his help, and God will certainly fulfill our prayer. In this way, we can certainly experience the positive answers to our prayers this year.

Jesus was moved by her humility and her faith in Jesus. Therefore, he answered her, “Go your way because of this word; the evil spirit has gone out of your daughter” (29).

And the woman went into her house and found the child lying on the bed, and the evil spirit had gone out of her. Jesus did not disappoint her faith.

Sometimes it seems that God does not answer our prayers at all. Despite such a situation, we should not doubt God's love and answer to our prayers. Rather, we should firmly believe in his love and answer to our prayers and continue to pray. He will certainly fulfill our prayer. That is why Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you!”

The apostle Paul also said: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not with him give us all things?” (Rom 8:28).

Let us firmly believe in Jesus' love and his omnipotence and pray to God with confidence. God will certainly answer our prayers. In this way, we can experience love and answered prayer in abundance this year. Amen!