April 17, 2025; Day 4 of Week 3

Daily Dose of Hope

April 17, 2025

Day 4 of Week 3

 

Scripture – Mark 7:1-23

 

Prayer: Almighty God, We come before you with awe and humility.  As we continue through this Holy Week, help us remember all you have done for us.  We are nothing without you.  We need you desperately, Lord.  Help us gather our scattered thoughts today as we focus on you.  In these next few moments of silence, help us remember that we belong to you.  Help us lay our worries and cares on the throne of your grace...We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we begin Mark 7 and read about another run-in Jesus has with the Pharisees.  But before we move into our devotional, I do want to mention that today is Maundy Thursday.  The word “maundy” comes from a Latin word meaning command and it refers to the command that Jesus gives his disciples in the Upper Room “to love one another as I have loved you.” This is often a day when we wash each other’s feet and receive communion together as Jesus did before he was crucified.  Today, we will have the New Hope sanctuary open for prayer, communion, and hand washing from 12noon to 1pm and then again from 6:30 to 7:30pm.  There won’t be a service but this will be your time for prayer, reflection, and communing with God.

 

Let’s talk a little bit about 1^st century Jewish life. Certain groups of Jews, such as the Pharisees and the scribes, affirmed two types of law. There was the written law, the first five books of the Bible, and the oral law, or the traditions of the elders/rabbis. The written law didn’t have all the detail so the rabbis over the years had filled in those details with oral traditions. For instance, there is a lot in the written law about things being clean and unclean but not a lot of detail, so the oral tradition filled in the detail.

 

Who exactly were the Pharisees? They were a strict sect of Judaism that believed in following the law in the fullest sense. There were different standards for following the law for different groups of people (day laborer would not be able to follow the law in the same way that a scribe could do so.) But certainly, it would have been expected that a rabbi and his followers would follow both the oral and written law.

 

In today’s Scripture, Jesus and his disciples had been out and about doing ministry and it is time to eat; they gather together to eat dinner.  But they were being watched.  Some of the Jewish teachers of the law, the Pharisees, had come to watch Jesus and his followers.  They were suspicious of Jesus.  They had heard about the healings.  They had heard about his teaching.  And they were feeling a bit threatened.  They travel from Jerusalem, which was 80 miles away, to come keep an eye on him.

 

And they find J