Blog (2) Morgan Whittler

Mark 7:7-Unclean?

When reading Mark I choose to pay close attention to the words of Jesus and his conflicts with the teachers of the law. One of the first conflicts between the teachings of Jesus and the laws of the torah in Mark surrounds the tradition of ceremonious washing before eating to keep from anything unclean could enter the body. Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples are eating with defiled hands and have not followed Jewish law and washed before they began eating. Jesus immediately points out these teachers that the law is "merely human law" and not meant to be literal. Jesus rebukes them for putting importance on the, largely symbolic, law and not the meaning behind it. Here Mark notes (NIV, 7:19) that Jesus "declared all foods clean", and nullifies the Old Testament food laws.

Needless to say the Pharisees find Jesus' declaration troubling because he is encouraging his followers to obey his word and not the law of the Old Testament. Not only is he speaking with authority, he is taking away from their authority as teachers of the law and threatening the authority of the Torah. In reading this any Apocalyptic Jew and/or early Christian would have to decide if they accept the authority of this teaching, which logically frees them from all Old Testament Laws.

Here we have to ask ourselves is Jesus declaring the Torah invalid or is he trying to correct the way in which the laws of the Torah are being carried out? In the October 2004 Issue of the Journal of Theological Studies Christian Stettler discusses this Mark Passage saying, "Jesus is not carrying out an evaluation within the Torah, ... but rather declaring the food laws of the written Torah obsolete. This is
confirmed by verse 12: the Pharisees take offense at Jesus’ saying since it contradicts the foundations of Jewish tradition" [1]. With this story it is clear that the author of Mark is trying to show that Jesus has the divine authority over the law, including the authority to declare it invalid.

In addition to identifying the type of Jesus Mark's author is looking to represent, creating a profile for the audience Mark is writing for can help us further understand and infer why this declaration of Toral invalidity is important. In his historical introduction of early Christian writings Bart Ehrman notes that while not much can be known for certain about Mark's author and their intended audience, that scholars generally agree that the author of Mark was not Jewish, but that Jesus' Jewish identity is stressed [2].  The emphasis of Jesus as Jewish is probably to help new, gentile christian converts understand the basic principles of this new religion by introducing them to the religious roots of the first followers of Jesus. Then later on, by showing Jesus rejecting the laws of the Jewish religion, Mark's author is making sure those hearing this gospel know that, although the roots of their religion are jewish, they are distinct in their beliefs and actions.

If you view the New Testament as a work of literature Jesus' rejection and amending of Jewish Law is a connection between the Old and New Testament and requires an understanding of both books to truly appreciate the placement of Jesus' quotations of scripture in verses six and seven. Scholar Donald Hagner examines these connections stating, "The Richest understanding of the theological themes of the Old and New Testament begins by exploring the lines of connection between promise and fulfillment."[3] Clearly the literary devices aren't ment to be used to make literal interpretations. As Ehman states the Gospels are a type of Greco-Roman biography ment to help the authors intended audience understand who Jesus was, where he came from, and what he stood for [4]. To do this without confusing a non-Jewish audience a direct rejection of traditional Jewish practice, to underline the distinction between Christianity and the Jewish faith, seem Necessary to the Author of Mark.

[1] C. Stettler, Journal of Theological Studies (2004), 476.

[2] B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament (4). New York. Oxford, (2008), 89.
[3] D.A. Hagner, Interpretation: AJournal of Bible and Theology, (1997), 20.
[4] B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament (4). New York. Oxford, (2008), 71.

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Bibliography

Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament. Fourth Edition. New York, 2008: 69-90.

Hagner, D.A. (1997). Balancing the old and the new. Interpretation: A Journal Of Bible & Theology, 51(1), 20.

Stettler, C. (2004). Purity of Heart in Jesus' Teaching: Mark 7:14-24 Par. As An Expression of Jesus' Basileia Ethics. Journal of Theological Studies, 55(2), 467-502.