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1–23. About pure and unclean. – 24–30. Canaanite woman. – 31–37. Healing the deaf and tongue-tied. Mark 7:1. The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to Him, Mark 7:2. and when they saw some of His disciples eating bread with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands, they reproached him. The conversation with the Pharisees and scribes about observing the traditions of the elders, the conversation with the people about the Pharisees and the conversation with the disciples that Christ led are explained in the Gospel of Matthew (see comments on Matthew 15: 1–20). Evangelist Mark makes, however, some additions to what Matthew said. Likewise, he has changes in the order of the Lord's sayings. Finally, it is impossible not to note the fact that in the Evangelist Mark the question of clean and unclean is put on a broader basis than in Matthew: while Matthew ultimately reduces the speech to the question of eating food with unwashed hands, in the Evangelist Mark the question of washing hands serves only as an illustration to clarify the fundamental question of clean and unclean (cf. Matthew 15:20 and Mark 7:23). Mark 7:3. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, holding to the tradition of the elders, do not eat without washing their hands thoroughly; Mark 7:4. and when they come from the market, they do not eat without washing. There are many other things that they decided to adhere to: observing the washing of bowls, tankards, cauldrons and benches. Evangelist Mark, having in mind his readers - Christian pagans, conveys in detail the customs of ablution that the Jews followed when eating food. When visiting the market and touching various kinds of objects sold there, a Jew could touch something defiled. Mark 7:5. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him: Why do not Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? Mark 7:6. He answered and said to them, “Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Mark 7:7. but in vain they worship Me, teaching doctrines the commandments of men.” Mark 7:8. For you, having abandoned the commandment of God, adhere to the tradition of men, the washing of mugs and cups, and do many other things like this. Mark 7:9. And he said to them, “Is it good that you set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition?” Mark 7:10. For Moses said: “Honor your father and your mother”; and: “Whoever curses his father or mother, let him die.” Mark 7:11. And you say: whoever says to father or mother: “corvan, that is, a gift to God that you would use from me,” Mark 7:12. you already allow him to do nothing for his father or his mother, Mark 7:13. making void the word of God by your tradition which ye have established; and you do many similar things. Mark 7:14. And he called all the people and said to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: Mark 7:15. nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile him; but what comes from it defiles a person. Mark 7:16. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear! Mark 7:17. And when He entered the house from the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable. Mark 7:18. He said to them: Are you really so slow-witted? Don't you understand that nothing that enters a person from outside can defile him? Mark 7:19. Because it does not enter into his heart, but into his belly, and comes out, by which all food is purified. Mark 7:20. He further said: what comes from a person defiles a person. Mark 7:21. For from within, from the heart of man, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, Mark 7:22. theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lewdness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness, - Mark 7:23. all this evil comes from within and defiles a person. “And it goes out, whereby all food is purified” (verse 19). In the Russian translation the idea remains unclear. It is therefore better to understand the last words “than...” as an application to the words of verse 18: “He said to them.” The Evangelist wants to say by this that Christ said what is contained in the 18th and 19th verses: “cleansing (καθαρίζων - according to the best readings) all food for consumption,” i.e. thereby destroying the difference in the dignity of dishes (cf. Rom. 14:14 et seq.). Directly, directly, Christ did not say a word against the sacred decrees of the Mosaic Law for the Israelites, but it goes without saying that after His Ascension, Christians could no longer fundamentally consider observance of the Mosaic decrees on food obligatory for themselves, and the Evangelist Mark cites the saying of Christ as the basis for a new, Christian view of the meaning of food. Mark 7:24. And departing from there, he came to the borders of Tire and Sidon; and, having entered the house, he did not want anyone to find out; but could not hide. Mark 7:25. For a woman whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet; Mark 7:26. and that woman was a pagan, a Syrophoenician by birth; and asked Him to cast out the demon from her daughter. Mark 7:27. But Jesus said to her, “Let the children have their fill first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Mark 7:28. She answered Him: So, Lord; but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. Mark 7:29. And he said to her: for this word, go; The demon has left your daughter. Mark 7:30. And, having arrived at her house, she found that the demon had left and her daughter was lying on the bed. The miracle of the healing of the daughter of a Canaanite wife, see Matthew 15:21–28. Evangelist Mark adds that Christ, being within a purely pagan country, did not want to preach here and stayed in the house of some Jew he knew (verse 24). The idea that Christ wanted to hide here from the hatred of his enemies (Bishop Michael) is not expressed in this place. Evangelist Mark more precisely defines the Canaanite woman as a pagan Greek, which probably indicates her religion, and at the same time as a Syrophoenician, which indicates her nationality (verse 26). By adding “the daughter lies on the bed” (verse 30), the evangelist makes it clear that the Canaanite woman’s daughter had fully recovered and was no longer oppressed by fits of demonic possession, during which she jumped out of bed onto the floor. Mark 7:31. Having left the borders of Tire and Sidon, Jesus again went to the Sea of ​​Galilee through the borders of the Decapolis. Only one evangelist, Mark, speaks about the healing of the dumb and tongue-tied. The Lord leaves the borders of Tire and Sidon and probably goes along the military road that went through Lebanon, Leontes to Caesarea Philippi and from here through Bethsaida Julia to the Sea of ​​Gennesaret, where on its eastern shore within the Decapolis he stopped for some time. Mark 7:32. They brought to Him a deaf man who was tongue-tied and asked Him to lay His hand on him. If the Gergesinians - also residents of the Decapolis - asked Christ to leave them (Mark 5:17), then the inhabitants of this area, on the contrary, themselves bring to Him a deaf, tongue-tied man and ask him to heal him of his illness. Mark 7:33. Jesus, taking him aside from the people, put His fingers into his ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; The petitioners thought that Christ would heal the sick person by simply laying His hands on him. But the Lord uses a different method of healing in this case. Wanting to focus the patient’s attention on Himself, to arouse in the patient some faith in His power, He first of all separates him from the people, so to speak, brings him closer to Himself. Then He performs such actions that should have made the patient understand that Christ is in some sense a Doctor. So He put His fingers into the sick man’s ears, as if expanding them, then spat on His fingers, as doctors sometimes did in ancient times (Tacitus, History, IV, 81), and touched the sick man’s tongue with them, showing both His intention to heal the sick man. Mark 7:34. and, looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him: “Ephphatha,” that is, “open.” By looking up at heaven and sighing, Christ thereby made it clear to the sick man that for his healing the help of God, who is in heaven, is necessary. As if having received an affirmative answer to His mental appeal to His Heavenly Father, Christ immediately commands the sick person’s hearing and tongue to come into action. Mark 7:35. And immediately his ears were opened and the bonds of his tongue were loosed, and he began to speak clearly. The command of Christ immediately came into fulfillment. He began to speak (ἐλάλει – imperfect). This expression indicates that the effect of healing turned out to be not temporary, but permanent: from then on, the patient always spoke purely or correctly (ὀρθῶς). Mark 7:36. And he ordered them not to tell anyone. But no matter how much He forbade them, they divulged even more. The Lord forbids telling about the miracle He performed, so as not to give the inhabitants of the Decapolis a reason to constantly look for Him specifically as a Wonderworker. Here, too, of course, over time, they should have believed in Him as the Messiah, pondered His teaching, and not only sought help from Him in various troubles and illnesses. Mark 7:37. And they marveled greatly and said, “He does everything well: he makes the deaf hear, and the dumb speak.” “He does everything well.” The crowd of people, apparently, looks at Christ as such a Wonderworker who is able to restore the primitive heavenly bliss of man (Gen. 1:31). You might be interested in: