Mark 7

When the Pharisees fault the disciples for eating with unwashed hands, Jesus rebukes their tradition that sets aside God’s commandment, and teaches that defilement comes not from outside but “out of the heart of man.” Withdrawing to the region of Tyre, He commends the humble persistence of a Gentile (Syrophoenician) woman and heals her daughter. In the Decapolis He heals a deaf man with a speech impediment, and the crowds marvel, “He has done all things well.”