The dispute with the Jewish religious leaders over the nature of purity in Mark 7:1-23 precedes, significantly, a foray of Jesus out into Gentile (non-Jewish) territory. The next two stories locate Jesus in the region of Tyre and Sidon and down again into a region called ‘Decapolis’. Here he heals two Gentiles and miraculously feeds a Gentile multitude. The connection of these stories with the teaching about ritual purity is similar to that of the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. In both cases Jesus’ corrective teaching on ritual purity precedes a mission to Gentiles who were considered ‘unclean’ by Jews. The point is this: God is now in the business of purifying what is impure. Previously the focus was on resisting impurity, and, while this is important, it is not the whole picture. The whole point of being made pure by God is not that we should form a pure enclave that repels impurity. Rather, God wants us to take the purifying power of Christ to the impure world. The love of Christ is a purifying love. It is like a spring of clean water. A spring needs to flow unimpeded to remain pure. If it stops flowing, it stagnates and becomes impure. So too the purifying love of Christ must not only flow into us but through us into others. The more you focus on your own moral purity the harder it will be to maintain. You must focus on loving others because love has a purifying effect on you and others in the process. Let Christ’s purifying love flow from you and make you pure.
Pray for those who need to experience Christ’s purifying love.
Read Mark 7:24-37
