GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 7:17
Please explain
I was doing some academic work for which I needed additional math courses, so I enrolled in several classes taught by my office neighbor, Professor Malcolm Herndon. In class, he would write formulas on the board and explain each element, showing how each part worked to arrive at the solution. I listened carefully and took notes. When I left the classroom, however, and tried to make the formulas work for me, I somehow arrived at the wrong solution. So, I would go sit beside Professor Herndon’s desk and ask him to explain the process again. He was patient with his rather slow student and explained where my work went wrong. Remembering those personal tutoring sessions gives me some sympathy for Jesus’ disciples, who had trouble putting together what Jesus said on the one hand with their historical and cultural background on the other—they did not understand.
St. Mark described Jesus’ rebuke of the pious Pharisees and scribes who came up from Jerusalem, looking to criticize him. They picked on his disciples, who ate some food without the traditional ceremonial handwashing. After dealing with the Jerusalem delegates, he called the crowd and told them that what goes into a man doesn’t defile him, but what comes out of his mouth does. Then Mark wrote, “And when he entered into a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.” (Mark 7:17)
Jesus’ disciples undoubtedly knew the handwashing ceremony and usually practiced it. But Jesus seemed to be announcing a new concept, so they wanted him to explain it further. For Jesus, the concept was simple, somewhat like Professor Herndon’s math formulas, but for the disciples, it was new territory, and they needed further teaching, somewhat like me sitting beside the professor’s desk asking for further clarification of a new formula. Yes, I identify with the disciples.
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