Mark Chapter 7
Mark Chapter 7, from the Gospel of Mark, is another terrific chapter for teaching phonics to a child, teenager, or adult.
Key words practiced in this chapter include:
Phonetic words
- tradition (4 times)
- Pharisee (3 times)
- Jerusalem (1 time)
Sight words
- Isaiah (twice)
- hypocrites (partially phonetic)
Chapter 7
Jesus was approached by the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem. They observed several of His students eating bread with ritually unclean, i.e., unwashed, hands, and used that to criticize Jesus. The reason for this was that the Pharisees, along with all the other Jews, had a tradition never to eat unless they had washed their hands. When they came from the public square, they did not eat unless they had washed first. They retained many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and tables.Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why don't your students follow the traditions of the elders, instead of eating bread with unwashed hands?" He responded to them, "Isaiah had you hypocrites all figured out, when he wrote: 'These people speak respectful words to Me, but their hearts are not with Me. They worship Me in vain, and their teachings are nothing more than rules made by men.'
After turning away from the law of God, you cling to the rules of mere men. Isaiah also told them, 'You turn your backs on the commandment of God, in order to cling to your own customs.' For example: Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother; and whoever curses his father or mother should receive the death penalty'; but you allow a man to say to his father or mother, 'Whatever help I might have given you was instead given to God as a temple offering,' and excused him from helping his father or mother any further. "You have made God's word and law useless with your tradition of revision, and many other actions like it." When Jesus had called the people together around him, he said, "Listen to me, each of you, and know the truth. Nothing outside a man can enter him and corrupt him. Instead, that which comes from within can corrupt him. So if anyone wishes to know the truth, let him listen."
Afterward, when he had left the people and entered the house, His students asked Him about the parable. To this he responded, "Are you also so ignorant? Don't you see that anything which enters a man from outside cannot corrupt him, because it enters his stomach, not his heart, and then is eliminated?" To this he added, "Anything that comes out of a man, it is that which corrupts him. Because, from inside of the heart come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lustfulness, an evil eye, blasphemy, uncontrolled pride, and foolishness. All of these wicked things come from inside a man and corrupt him."
Then He left that place, and traveled to the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He wanted to keep the place where He was staying a secret, but He had become so well-known that this was impossible. A woman whose daughter had been possessed by a demon heard the news of Him, came to Him and fell down before Him. She was Greek, a Syrophenician, and begged that he would throw the demon out of her daughter. Jesus replied to her, "The children must first be fed, for it is wrong to take their bread and give it to the puppies." To this she answered, "Yes, Lord, but the puppies under the table can eat the children's crumbs." So Jesus replied, "Go on your way; you have proved your faith, and the demon has been cast out of your daughter." When she returned to her home, she found that her daughter was lying upon her bed and Satan had left her.
Leaving the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus reached Lake Tiberias, among the coasts of Decapolis. The people brought him a deaf man with a speech impediment, praying that he would lay hands upon him. Jesus took him away privately from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man's ears, spit, then touched his tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, "Ephphatha," which means "be opened." The man's ears were immediately opened, and the muscles of his tongue healed, letting him speak clearly and understandably. Jesus ordered the people not to tell this story, but the more he ordered this, the more they spread the news. They were completely blown away, and said, "He has wielded great power in all things. He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."
See also
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