Mark 7:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:

NIV: Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.

NASB: After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, 'Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:

CSB: Summoning the crowd again, he told them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand:

NLT: Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. 'All of you listen,' he said, 'and try to understand.

KJV: And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

NKJV: When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand:

Jesus has had altercations with the scribes and Pharisees before, most notably regarding associating with sinners (Mark 2:15–17), "working" on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–28; 3:1–6), and where His authority comes from (Mark 3:22–30). In this passage, He not only decisively shuts down the religious leaders' authority, Jesus very carefully explains why they are wrong.

"Hear" is from the Greek root word akouo and means to pay attention and learn. "Understand" comes from the Greek root word suniemi and means to fit all the little pieces together until you comprehend the main idea and how to apply it. Jesus wants the people to really understand what cleanness and uncleanness mean and how the scribes and Pharisees show hypocrisy in their definitions and applications. Their teaching disrespects God and harms the people both physically and spiritually. Physically, their added traditions create a burden of time and resources God never intended (Matthew 23:2–4). It is spiritually harmful because they teach the people that following extra-scriptural tradition is more important than their heart's attitude (Matthew 5:21–48).

Too often young Christians leap into teaching and serving roles before they have studied what they believe. There are few things more dangerous for a Christian than trying to defend the gospel without understanding it. Jesus' call to hear and understand applies to all of us.

Mark 7:14–23 contains Jesus' rebuttal to the Pharisees' beliefs about cleanness (Mark 7:1–5), by condemning their habit of rejecting God's law for their own tradition (Mark 7:6–13). Here, He goes into more detail about what actually makes someone unclean. After, He will live out His teaching of love over tradition by healing a Gentile girl then remaining in a Gentile area to heal and feed four thousand (Mark 7:31–8:10). A parallel description can be found in Matthew 15:10–20.

Jesus counters another traditional error from the scribes and Pharisees, explaining that food in and of itself does not make a person unclean. Rather, it is the intent of the heart that matters to God. He specifically condemns traditions which effectively undo the original intent of God's commands. Jesus heals the daughter of a persistent Gentile woman, and a man suffering from deafness and a speech impediment.

After showing His authority over demons, death, and physics, Jesus asserts His superiority over manmade traditions. For generations, Jewish religious leaders have added to the Law in an attempt to keep the nation holy. Such traditions, however, serve to make the leaders look good but unnecessarily burden the people. Jesus argues in word and action that any law that dismisses love is either misinterpreted or manmade.

The Gospel of Mark emphasizes both Jesus' servanthood and His role as the promised Messiah: the Son of God. This is done through a concise, action-packed style. Mark provides relatively few details, instead focusing on actions and simple statements. This relates to the Gospel's authorship, which is believed to be based on the memories of the apostle Peter. These include many of Jesus' miracles, in contrast to other Gospels which include many more of Jesus' teachings and parables. Mark also makes frequent mention of Jesus' ministry being misunderstood by others.