Mark 6:53 Having crossed over they drew to land in Gennesaret and came to anchor. 54 But no sooner had they gone ashore than the people immediately recognized Him. 55 Then they scoured the whole district, and began to bring Him the sick on their mats wherever they heard He was. 56 And enter wherever He might—village or town or hamlet—they laid their sick in the open places, and entreated Him to let them touch were it but the tassel of His robe; and all, whoever touched Him, were restored to health. WEY
They have crossed the Sea of Galilee and have ended up in a different place than they intended. The people recognize Jesus and immediately a crowd forms and the sick are brought to Him to be healed. Jesus is doing things that should make His identity obvious but there are people like the scribes, Pharisees and the disciples who are simply missing it. Things will change for the disciples come Pentecost but for now, they are looking but not seeing. Some of this is to be expected as like everyone else, the apostles have some preconceived notions about the Messiah and at least some part of those expectations involve overthrowing the Romans. Nevertheless, the contrast is striking between them and the crowds who are benefiting from Christ and His mighty works. At this point, things seem to be going well for the ministry as people are being healed and fed but not everyone is happy about Jesus including some that are offended by Him.
Mark 3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. 2 And They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up in the middle.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6And the Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. NHEB
Earlier in Mark, when asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, the Pharisees remained silent and didn’t answer Jesus. The plot begins at verse 6 and then later in chapter 3, we see the big guns coming in from Jerusalem to get involved.
Mark 7:1 Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw that some of his disciples ate bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all Jewish people, do not eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the Tradition of the Elders. 4 They do not eat when they come from the marketplace unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold to, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the Tradition of the Elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?” NHEB
Verses 1 through 23 are a unit of teaching that consists of a narrative regarding the opposition to Jesus. The Pharisees (with Pharisee meaning “separate”) arose as a way to preserve the faith after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed and the Jews were carried off to Babylon. They were devoted to doing what God wants and since that means following the law, began to try and figure out just what that would look like in practice. For example, asking the question of what constitutes “work” on the Sabbath? They found a word in Exodus regarding work as it relates to the building of the tabernacle and then found that same word in Genesis. From there, a list of 39 categories arose of things that Pharisees wouldn’t do on the Sabbath that became traditions. As time goes by, the traditions became more important than the law. Note that the complaint isn’t that the disciples aren’t following the law but rather are following the Traditions of the Elders. Jesus is doing things that disregard (and even dismisses) these traditions regarding the law that were created by man.
Mark is writing to Romans so he adds a footnote in verses 3 and 4 as a tutorial on Jewish purification rituals. This isn’t a germ problem but rather one of cleanliness versus uncleanliness in a spiritual sense.
Psalm 24:1 The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein. 2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods. 3 Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh, righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face—even Jacob. Selah. WEB
We think that this was used an an entrance liturgy (also see Micah 6:8 and Psalm 15) with the gist being to lay out the standard for what it takes to enter. There are people who can come in and fortunately, the list includes Jacob who isn’t exactly perfect and truth be told, is something of a scoundrel. The good news is that if Jacob is on the list then there is hope for us. The even better news is that thanks to the blood of Christ, we have the ability to boldly walk into the holy place as our hearts and bodies have been cleansed (Hebrews 10:22).
At this point, the Pharisees think they got Him because they didn’t wash their hands (again, this isn’t related to germs but purity). Their question is why aren’t Jesus and His disciples following the traditions of the elders. Jesus responds by reading Isaiah 29:13.
Mark 7:6 Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 7 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ 8 You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men. BSB
At this point, it is easy to think of all Pharisees as corrupt but just like people who identify as Christians, there are good and bad Pharisees. The Babylonian Talmud describes seven kinds of Pharisees all but the last one being hypocrites:
1. The “shoulder” Pharisee who wear their good works on their shoulders for everyone to see.
2. The “wait a little” Pharisee who is always putting off action and making excuses for doing so.
3. The “bruised” Pharisee who goes to such great lengths not to stare at a woman that they run into walls and end up bruised and bleeding on those walls.
4. The “hunched over” Pharisee who is always bent over when walking to prove their humility.
5. The “ever reckoning” Pharisee who constantly weighing their good deeds versus their bad deeds and trying to keep the score even.
6. The Pharisee who serves God out of fear of punishment, and
7. The Pharisee who serves God out of love.
So when Jesus calls them hypocrites, He isn’t plowing new ground or saying anything that isn’t already known about the Pharisees and scribes that He is coming in contact with.