Mark 7:5

Mark 7:5 captures a pivotal confrontation between Jesus and the religious authorities of His day. The verse states, "Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?" This question highlights a fundamental disagreement about religious practice and true piety.

Context

This verse immediately follows a description of the meticulous washing rituals observed by the Pharisees and all Jews who held to their traditions, specifically before eating. The Pharisees and scribes were the dominant religious and legal authorities in first-century Judaism. While the Mosaic Law (the Torah) commanded certain purifications, the "tradition of the elders" (Hebrew: Halakha) referred to a vast body of oral laws, interpretations, and customs that had accumulated over centuries. These traditions were considered by the Pharisees to be as binding, if not more so, than the written Law itself, believed to have been handed down from Moses alongside the written text.

The issue of "unwashen hands" was not a matter of hygiene but of ceremonial purity. According to their tradition, eating with unwashed hands rendered the food, and thus the eater, ceremonially unclean. The question posed to Jesus was a challenge to His authority and that of His disciples, accusing them of disregarding established religious custom.

Key Themes

• Conflict Between Human Tradition and Divine Command: This verse sets the stage for Jesus' broader teaching in Mark 7, where He argues that the Pharisees' devotion to their traditions often superseded and even nullified God's actual commandments (see Mark 7:8).
• External Ritual vs. Internal Purity: The core of the dispute revolves around whether true righteousness comes from outward observance of rules or from the condition of one's heart. Jesus consistently emphasized the latter, contrasting their focus on external purity with the need for a clean heart (as He clarifies later in the chapter, Mark 7:15).
• Authority of Jesus: By allowing His disciples to deviate from these cherished traditions, Jesus was implicitly asserting an authority superior to that of the elders and their oral law.

Linguistic Insights

The Greek word translated as "unwashen" here is koinos (κοινός), which literally means "common" or "defiled." It doesn't primarily mean "dirty" in the sense of physical grime, but rather "ceremonially unclean" or "profane," in contrast to "holy" or "set apart." Eating with koinos hands meant violating the ritual purity standards of the Pharisees, making one ceremonially impure. The term "tradition" itself, from the Greek paradosis, refers to something "handed down."

Practical Application

Mark 7:5 serves as a timeless reminder for believers today. It challenges us to examine our own practices and beliefs:

• Are we prioritizing human traditions, customs, or even church rules over the clear commands and principles found in God's Word?
• Do we sometimes focus more on outward appearances, rituals, or what others might see, rather than cultivating a pure heart and genuine devotion to Christ?
• The passage encourages us to seek a faith that is deeply rooted in internal transformation rather than mere external conformity. True worship is not about following every human-made regulation, but about honoring God from the heart, as Jesus teaches in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."