Marcos 7

VBL · Chapter 7/16

1Los fariseos y líderes religiosos que habían descendido desde Jerusalén para conocer a Jesús

2se dieron cuenta de que algunos de sus discípulos comían con las manos “impuras” (es decir, sin lavárselas).

3(Los fariseos y los judíos no comen sin lavarse las manos previamente, siguiendo la tradición de sus ancestros.

4De la misma manera, no comen cuando regresan del mercado hasta que no se hayan lavado. Observan muchos otros rituales, como lavar las tazas, las ollas y los recipientes).

5Entonces los fariseos y los líderes religiosos le preguntaron a Jesús: “¿Por qué tus discípulos no siguen la tradición de nuestros ancestros? Pues ellos comen los alimentos con las manos impuras”.

6Jesús respondió: “Isaías tenía la razón sobre ustedes, pueblo hipócrita, cuando dijo: ‘Este pueblo dice que me honra, pero sus mentes están lejos de mí.

7Su adoración no tiene sentido, pues lo que enseñan como doctrinas son solamente normas humanas’.

8Ustedes ignoran la ley de Dios, y por el contrario observan con mucho cuidado las tradiciones humanas”, les dijo.

9“¡Con cuanta astucia ustedes han dejado a un lado la ley de Dios para poder fundamentar sus tradiciones!

10Moisés dijo: ‘Honra a tu padre y a tu madre;’ y también dijo: ‘Cualquiera que maldice a su padre o a su madre, debe morir’.

11Pero ustedes dicen ‘está bien si alguien dice a su padre y a su madre, Todo lo que recibían de mí ahora es Corbán’, (es decir, dedicado a Dios),

12y entonces ustedes no permiten que ellos hagan nada más en favor de su padre o su madre.

13Y por medio de esta tradición que ustedes han transmitido, anulan e invalidan la palabra de Dios. Y ustedes hacen muchas otras cosas como estas”.

14Una vez más Jesús llamó a la multitud para que vinieran donde él estaba y les dijo: “Por favor, escúchenme todos y entiendan.

15No es lo que está afuera y entra por su boca lo que los hace impuros. Es lo que sale de ella lo que los hace impuros”.

16[Los primeros manuscritos no incluían el versículo 16.]

17Entonces Jesús entró para alejarse de la multitud, y sus discípulos le preguntaron sobre esta ilustración.

18“¿Ustedes tampoco lo entienden?” les preguntó. “¿No ven que lo que ustedes comen no es lo que los vuelve impuros?

19Lo que comen no entra en sus mentes, sino en sus estómagos, y luego sale del cuerpo. Así que todos los alimentos están ceremonialmente ‘limpios’.

20“Lo que sale de ustedes es lo que los hace impuros.

21Es desde adentro, desde la mente de las personas, que salen los malos pensamientos: la inmoralidad sexual, los robos, los asesinatos, el adulterio,

22la glotonería, la malicia, el engaño, la indecencia, la envidia, la calumnia, el orgullo y la inconsciencia.

23Todos estos males vienen desde adentro y contaminan a las personas”.

24Entonces Jesús se marchó de allí hacia la región de Tiro. No quería que nadie supiera que estaba quedándose allí en una casa, pero no pudo mantenerlo en secreto.

25Tan pronto como una mujer, cuya hija tenía un espíritu maligno, escuchó acerca de él, vino y se postró a sus pies.

26La mujer era griega, nacida en Sirofenicia. Ella le rogó a Jesús que sacara ese demonio de su hija.

27“Deja que los hijos coman primero hasta que estén satisfechos”, respondió Jesús. “No está bien tomar el alimento de los hijos para tirárselo a los perros”.

28“Eso es cierto, Señor”, dijo ella, “pero aún los perros que están debajo de la mesa comen de las migajas que los hijos dejan”.

29Entonces Jesús le dijo: “Por tal respuesta que has dado, puedes irte. El demonio ha salido de tu hija”.

30Y ella se fue a casa y encontró a la niña acostada en la cama, y el demonio se había ido.

31Al salir de la región de Tiro, Jesús pasó por Sidón y luego por el Mar de Galilea y por el territorio de las Diez Ciudades.

32Allí le trajeron a un hombre sordo que tampoco podía hablar bien. Ellos le pidieron a Jesús que tocara al hombre con su mano y lo sanara.

33Y después de llevarlo aparte, lejos de la multitud, Jesús puso sus dedos en los oídos del hombre sordo. Entonces tocó la lengua del hombre con saliva.

34Luego miró al cielo, y con un suspiro dijo: “Efata”, que quiere decir, “¡ábrete!”

35Y los oídos del hombre se abrieron, y ya no tenía impedimento para hablar, y comenzó a hablar con claridad.

36Entonces Jesús dio órdenes estrictas de no contarlo a nadie, pero cuanto más él decía esto, tanto más la gente difundía la noticia.

37La gente estaba completamente asombrada y decían: “Todo lo que él hace es maravilloso. Incluso hace que los sordos oigan y que los mudos puedan hablar”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus confronts the Pharisees about human traditions that override the law of God, teaches that impurity comes from within the heart, heals the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, and restores the speech and hearing of a deaf-mute man.

Explanation

The Jewish practice of washing hands before eating, mentioned here, was not originally about hygiene but a ceremonial purity ritual that had, according to Jesus, become more important to some than the commandments of God themselves. The criticism of 'corban' exposes a legal loophole used to avoid supporting one's parents, showing how well-intentioned traditions can be twisted to justify selfishness. The Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile from the region of present-day Lebanon/Syria, shows persistent faith even in the face of an initially reserved response from Jesus, and is answered because of her humble, sharp argument. The healing of the deaf-mute man, with Jesus touching his tongue and ears and speaking the Aramaic word 'ephphatha' ('be opened'), shows Jesus using sensory methods that someone unable to hear verbal explanations could understand.

Fun facts

  • The region of Tyre and Sidon, where the Syrophoenician woman came from, lay outside Galilee, on the Mediterranean coast — showing that Jesus' fame had already reached territory that was predominantly Gentile.
  • 'Ephphatha' is one of the few Aramaic words preserved literally in the Greek text of Mark, suggesting that the author wanted to capture with precision the moment experienced by the witnesses.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Marcos 7:1Pharisees and scribes coming straight from Jerusalem, the most important religious center, show that Jesus’s fame had already caught the attention of authorities from the capital, not just local leaders in Galilee.
  2. Marcos 7:2Eating with “defiled,” meaning unwashed, hands was a ritual issue, not one of hygiene as we understand it today — the problem for them was religious, not sanitary.
  3. Marcos 7:3This washing had nothing to do with hygiene as we understand it today: it was a purity ritual inherited from the tradition of the elders, not from the written law of Moses, and it also applied to cups, pitchers, and tables. The Pharisees took this tradition as seriously as the law itself, and it is this distinction between human tradition and God’s commandment that Jesus questions right after.
  4. Marcos 7:4The list of things washed by tradition even includes “tables,” which in the underlying practice were actually the low couches people reclined on during meals, also treated as part of the purity ritual.
  5. Marcos 7:5The question from the Pharisees and scribes goes straight to the point, demanding a public explanation for the disciples’ behavior regarding a tradition they followed to the letter.
  6. Marcos 7:6Jesus answers by quoting the prophet Isaiah, who centuries earlier had already described a people who honor God only with words, without involving the heart — the quotation serves as a mirror for the accusation they had just made.
  7. Marcos 7:7The rest of the Isaiah quotation completes the accusation: worship that amounts to following human rules, taught as if they were divine commandments, is worth nothing.
  8. Marcos 7:8Jesus applies the quotation directly: they traded God’s commandment for the tradition of the elders, and the example of washing pitchers and cups is just one among many.
  9. Marcos 7:9The tone here is ironic: “full well ye reject” sounds like backhanded praise, highlighting just how skilled they were at getting around the original commandment with rules of their own.
  10. Marcos 7:10Jesus cites two commandments of Moses side by side — honoring father and mother, and the severe penalty for cursing them — as the standard being sidestepped by the practice He criticizes next.
  11. Marcos 7:11“Corban” was a formal declaration dedicating a possession to God, making it off-limits for any other use, including supporting one’s own parents. Jesus points out that some people used this religious formula as a legal excuse not to help needy parents, keeping a tradition while breaking a much older commandment.
  12. Marcos 7:12This is the practical result of the Corban maneuver: once a possession was declared an offering to God, the person was officially free of any obligation to help their parents, even if they were in need.
  13. Marcos 7:13Jesus’s conclusion is direct: the tradition they themselves created was, in practice, nullifying the word of God — and this was not an isolated case, but a repeated pattern.
  14. Marcos 7:14Jesus changes His audience: instead of answering only the Pharisees and scribes, He calls the whole crowd to hear the teaching that comes next.
  15. Marcos 7:15This principle reverses the logic of ritual purity discussed so far: what defiles a person is not what enters through the mouth, but what comes out from within.
  16. Marcos 7:16The same invitation to truly listen that appears in other parables of the Gospel returns here, signaling that the saying deserves reflection, not just a surface-level hearing.
  17. Marcos 7:17The pattern repeats once more: in public Jesus speaks in a direct image, and it is the disciples, alone with Him at home, who ask to understand better what He meant.
  18. Marcos 7:18Jesus’s question sounds like a gentle rebuke: even after so much time with Him, the disciples still had not grasped an idea He considered basic.
  19. Marcos 7:19This parenthetical comment is Mark’s own, explaining to his readers, who did not follow Jewish dietary laws, what Jesus’s words meant in practice. It’s a sign that the Gospel was already being read by people outside Jewish culture, who needed this extra explanation.
  20. Marcos 7:20Jesus repeats the central principle even more directly: defilement comes from inside a person, not from outside.
  21. Marcos 7:21The list of evils begins with the heart, not the stomach — evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual immorality, and murders open the enumeration.
  22. Marcos 7:22The list continues with nine more items, a common device in moral teaching at the time: listing vices in sequence to reinforce the idea that the problem is internal and varied, not a single isolated flaw.
  23. Marcos 7:23The closing line ties off the whole chapter’s argument: all these evils arise from within a person, finally settling the discussion about washed hands that opened the chapter.
  24. Marcos 7:24Tyre and Sidon lay well outside Jewish territory, so this trip represents one of the few times Jesus deliberately enters foreign land, trying, without success, to go unnoticed.
  25. Marcos 7:25The woman acts as soon as she hears about Him, without hesitating — she goes straight to fall at Jesus’s feet, a gesture of urgency and pleading.
  26. Marcos 7:26Calling her Greek and Syrophoenician makes clear she was doubly outside the Jewish community, both by culture and by region of origin — a sharp contrast with the Jewish crowds Jesus had been dealing with up to this point.
  27. Marcos 7:27The woman was Greek, of Syrian origin — that is, from outside the Jewish people — and Jesus uses an expression comparing non-Jews to little dogs by the table, a harsh image, but a common one at the time, for those outside the covenant with Israel. Her reply does not deny the image; it simply points out that even little dogs eat the crumbs that fall.
  28. Marcos 7:28The woman’s reply accepts the image Jesus used without taking offense, simply turning the argument in her favor: even the little dogs eat the crumbs left over from the children’s table.
  29. Marcos 7:29Jesus credits her reply as what secures the healing — it’s not an arbitrary change of mind, but a direct acknowledgment of the woman’s sharp answer and persistence.
  30. Marcos 7:30The healing happens at a distance, without Jesus ever seeing the girl: the mother only confirms the result when she returns home and finds her daughter lying down, the spirit already gone.
  31. Marcos 7:31The route described is long and takes a considerable detour, passing again through mostly non-Jewish territory before returning to the area of the Sea of Galilee.
  32. Marcos 7:32They bring Jesus a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment, specifically asking Him to lay hands on the man, a healing gesture already familiar to the public.
  33. Marcos 7:33Taking the man aside from the crowd, putting His fingers in his ears, and touching his tongue with saliva were recognizable healing gestures of the time, also used by other folk healers.
  34. Marcos 7:34Another Aramaic word preserved by Mark and immediately translated, again showing the author’s care in keeping the exact sound of what Jesus said. The gesture of touching the tongue and ears, common in healings of the time, accompanies the word — it wasn’t the word alone that did something, but part of a recognizable way of healing.
  35. Marcos 7:35The healing is immediate and complete: ears opened and speech freed at the same moment, with no gradual process.
  36. Marcos 7:36Once again the request for secrecy has the opposite effect: the more Jesus insists they not tell anyone, the more people spread the news.
  37. Marcos 7:37The crowd’s astonishment echoes, without quoting it directly, an ancient prophecy of Isaiah about the deaf hearing and the mute speaking as a sign of the promised times.

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