Chapter Seven sees Jesus tell the Pharisees and scribes that they have rejected the commandments of God to establish their own traditions. He explains what defiles a person and we learn of the Syrophoenician woman’s faith. Jesus casts a demon out of her daughter.

The chapter concludes with Jesus healing a deaf man.

Reading Mark in Advent is an 18-part podcast series that sees us upload a chapter of Mark’s Gospel each weekday of the season.With a global pandemic sweeping the world and lockdowns and restrictions placed on our everyday living – not to mention patterns of worship and prayer – this is very much “the Word in Lockdown”.

But the Word of God is never locked down, isolated and contained. As Pope Francis says:

“The word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12); it does not die, nor does it age, but it remains for ever (cf. 1 Peter 1:25). It stays young in the presence of all that passes away (cf. Matthew 25:35) and preserves those who put it into practice from inner aging.”