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Religion loves clean hands. Jesus wants a clean heart. We walk through Mark 7 where the Pharisees’ cherished traditions collide with a sharper standard of holiness: what defiles a person doesn’t come from the outside but from within. That shift isn’t a downgrade of devotion—it’s an upgrade to the core, moving from ritual performance to inner transformation. Along the way, we unpack why Mark says Jesus declared all foods clean, and what that means for the end of old covenant boundaries and the start of a new covenant that renovates the heart.

The journey takes us north to Tyre and Sidon where a Gentile mother pleads for her daughter. Her response to Jesus—humble, persistent, and piercingly wise—becomes a masterclass in faith that refuses offense and asks for the overflow of grace. We talk about why Jesus acknowledges Israel’s priority while honoring the faith of an outsider, and how that moment trains the disciples to see real trust where the religious system would not.

Back in the Decapolis, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and mute with startling intimacy—fingers in ears, a touch with spit, a groan to heaven, and the word “Ephphatha.” It’s earthy and personal, the kind of healing that restores dignity as much as it restores speech and hearing. We explore how Jesus engages the teachable with patience and confronts the entrenched with clarity, and why the heart—not the sink—is where holiness begins. We close with practical takeaways: seek a new heart, imitate humble persistence, and linger with Christ until awe replaces apathy.

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