Rise and Follow: 30 Days in MarkНамуна

According to Mark’s gospel, Jesus had a way of crossing boundaries. We’ve seen how he crossed social boundaries by eating with tax collectors and sinners, purity boundaries by touching a leper and a bleeding woman, sabbath boundaries, fasting boundaries; he even crossed divine boundaries by claiming God’s power to forgive sins.

In Mark chapter seven, Jesus continues this pattern by questioning one of the most important boundaries separating the Jewish people from the Gentiles: purity rules about food.

Back when God called the ancient Israelites out of Egypt, he did give them laws about what and how to eat. These were part of God’s plan to separate the Israelites from other nations, so God could use them to redeem all people.

But by Jesus’ day, many rules had been added to God’s law, and some leaders cared way more about their traditions than true worship. Naturally, Jesus crosses these lines too. What’s surprising is that he goes a step further. According to Mark, he declares that every kind of food, even the food that God didn’t originally allow, is now acceptable in God’s eyes.

Please understand, this is a way bigger deal than suddenly being allowed to eat bacon. Food laws had done their job of keeping Jews and Gentiles apart, but now Jesus was removing even that barrier. Jews were still Jews, and Gentiles were still Gentiles, but in God’s coming kingdom, they would all eat together.

We immediately see the implications of this teaching when Jesus crosses geographical boundaries to enter the Gentile regions of Tyre and then the Decapolis. Casting out demons and healing the deaf were two clear signs that God’s kingdom was arriving, and here it was, showing up outside of Israel!

The Gentile woman we see argue with Jesus in chapter seven was right–the kingdom was for her daughter just as much as it was for Jairus’. She understood what the disciples still couldn’t see after watching their Lord feed nine thousand people— that the feast in God’s kingdom was abundant enough to also feed her, even with its crumbs.

Isaiah 25 from the New Living Translation says it all–

In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.

There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.

He will swallow up death forever!

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people.

The Lord has spoken!

Reflection Questions:

• How is God speaking to me through these verses?
• What does this set of verses teach me about God?
• What does this show me about the good news of Jesus?
• How can I apply what I read today?