Mark 7

7:1-13 The religious leaders had put following law above loving people. God is love. Our love towards God is not flowers or candy or toys as it would be for a spouse or child, it is not that direct toward God. But, when we love others directly, we are expressing our love for God, to God.

7:15-19 No little amount of controversy in these verses. Jesus declared all foods clean. It seems here that Jesus is unbinding the Levitical or Mosaic law here. You know, the stuff about split hoofs and chews the cud. That's the way I read it. However, the law was for the Jewish people of Israel and I'm not one of them either. My guess is that those who still follow the Old Testament food law do not see pig and such as food because they are unclean animal and an unclean animal would never be considered food and therefore clean food has no relation to unclean animal. That's my best guess. Whether you believe this or believe bacon and all other foods are good to eat, we do good to honor our conscience, to honor God by obeying what our conviction holds.

7:20-23 Jesus went to great pains to try and teach us that the heart is what matters. In the old way I could make an offering and follow the law, but have hardness in my heart. With Jesus however, it is no longer based on what is seen externally but in the heart. This is why we struggle so. We can't see the heart so we judge what we can see, the action. Too often the two are light years apart. Fortunately, God looks at the heart and gives us grace accordingly.

How often, if we knew, would we find that the man just busted for drunk driving or cheating on his wife one more time is the man in whose heart God is working mighty change? Yet I judge him as being the same old drunkard or the guy that will never learn to keep it in his pants. The way I judge him is the way I will treat him. I may destroy the work God is doing without even knowing, all because I judge.

7:24-30 Jesus came to the Jews. The Jews were God's chosen people and He needed to teach them the father heart of God so they could be missionaries to all people's of the earth.. the disciples had enough on their plate already,  they were not ready to understand the gift of God was no longer just for Jew, but for every man, everywhere. As such, Jesus tried to keep his work mostly to the Jewish. Here though was an outsider who already knew what Jesus was teying so hard to teach the disciples. Jesus didn't just, oh, what the heck, since your here I'll go ahead and do this. No, Jesus heals her daughter because of her faith. She was not leaving without what she came for. Oh that we would have that kind of faith.

7:31-37 There is a great parallel between Jeus' ministry and the way God modulates free will and destiny in our lives. Jesus is trying to control His fame, His destiny. He needs to achieve or establish His God-head to the disciples, yet still end up on the cross. Here Jesus is controlling or preserving His (destiny) by leaving the Jewish areas and going into more pagan areas, preventing the people from trying to crown Him. But at the same time He doesn't control their (free will) by choosing who comes to Him for healing. Same is true in our lives. God has an end game for each of us and He controls certain details but at the same time He gives us free will for other details and yet we always end up precisely where we are supposed to be. So they bring a deaf and mostly mute person to Jesus and He heals him. He allowed their free will. Then He commands them not to tell anyone. His control. But they go and blabber it to everyone. Seems like chaos for Jesus' ministry. Yet, He still ends up exactly where He needs to be after 3-1/2 years of this. So it is in our lives. Looks like so many years of chaos, but .......