7:1 | The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and |
7:2 | saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. |
7:3 | (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. |
7:4 | When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) |
7:5 | So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" |
7:6 | He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. |
7:7 | They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' |
7:8 | You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." |
7:9 | And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! |
7:10 | For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' |
7:11 | But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), |
7:12 | then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. |
7:13 | Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." |
7:14 | Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. |
7:15 | Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" |
7:16 | [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.] |
7:17 | After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. |
7:18 | "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? |
7:19 | For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") |
7:20 | He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' |
7:21 | For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, |
7:22 | greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. |
7:23 | All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" |
7:24 | Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. |
7:25 | In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. |
7:26 | The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. |
7:27 | "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." |
7:28 | "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." |
7:29 | Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." |
7:30 | She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. |
7:31 | Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. |
7:32 | There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. |
7:33 | After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. |
7:34 | He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). |
7:35 | At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. |
7:36 | Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. |
7:37 | People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." |
| |