God's Law and Rules That People Make 
(Mk. 7:1-23)

15   ¹Then some Pharisees* and teachers of the law came to Jesus. They came from Jerusalem and asked Jesus, ²"Why do your followers not obey the rules given to us by our great people that lived before us? Your followers don't wash their hands before they eat!" ³Jesus answered, "And why do you refuse to obey God's command so that you can follow those rules you have? ⁴God said, 'You must honor (respect) your father and mother.'* And God also said, 'Any person that says bad things to his father or mother must be killed.'* ⁵But you teach that a person can say to his father or mother, 'I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it to help you. I will give it to God.' ⁶You teach that person to not honor his father. So you teach that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow those rules you have. ⁷You are hypocrites* ! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah said: ⁸'These people say they honor me, but they don't really make me an important part of their lives. ⁹Their worship of me is for nothing. The things they teach are only rules that people have made.'"

¹⁰Jesus called the people to him. Jesus said, "Listen and understand what I am saying. ¹¹It is not the things a person puts in his mouth that make him wrong.* It is the things a person says with his mouth that make him wrong." ¹²Then the followers came to Jesus and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees* are angry because of what you said?" ¹³Jesus answered, "Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Stay away from the Pharisees.* They lead the people, but they are like blind men leading other blind men. And if a blind man leads another blind man, then both men will fall into a hole." ¹⁵Peter said, "Explain to us what you said earlier to the people." ¹⁶Jesus said, "You still have trouble understanding? ¹⁷Surely you know that all the food that enters a person's mouth goes into the stomach. Then that food goes out of the body. ¹⁸But the bad things a person says with his mouth come from the way a person thinks. And these are the things that make a person wrong.* ¹⁹All these bad things begin in a person's mind: evil thoughts, murder, adultery,* sexual sins, stealing, lying, saying bad things against other people. ²⁰These things make a person wrong. But not washing his hands before he eats does not make a person wrong."

Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs. 'You must honor ... mother' Quote from Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16. 'Any person ... killed' Quote from Ex. 21:17. hypocrites Bad people that act like they are good. wrong Literally, "unclean" or "not pure." adultery Breaking a marriage promise by sexual sin.