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1157  /   Mark 7:32 
can de­f ile them by go­ing into them. Rath­
er, it is what ­comes out of a per­son that
de­f iles them.” [16] a
17  Af­ter he had left the ­c rowd and en­
tered the ­house, his dis­ci­ples ­asked him
about this par­a­ble. 18  “Are you so dull?” he
asked. “Don’t you see that noth­ing that
en­ters a per­son from the out­side can de­f ile
them? 19  For it ­doesn’t go into their ­heart
but into their stom­ach, and then out of
the body.” (In say­ing this, ­Jesus de­c lared
all ­foods clean.)
20  He went on: “What ­comes out of a
per­son is what de­f iles them. 21  For it is
from with­in, out of a per­son’s ­heart, that
evil ­thoughts come — ​sex­u­a l im­mo­ral­i­t y,
t heft, mur­der, 22  adul­tery, ­g reed, mal­ice,
de­ceit, lewd­ness, envy, slan­der, ar­ro­gance
and fol­ly. 23  All ­these ­evils come from in­
side and de­f ile a per­son.”
Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician
Woman’s Faith
24  Jesus left that ­place and went to the
vi­cin­i­t y of Tyre.  b He en­tered a ­house and
did not want any­one to know it; yet he
could not keep his pres­ence se­c ret. 25  In
fact, as soon as she ­heard ­about him, a
wom­a n ­whose lit­t le daugh­ter was pos­
sessed by an im­pure spir­it came and fell at
his feet. 26  The wom­an was a ­Greek, born
in Syr­i­an Phoe­nic­ia. She ­begged ­Jesus to
drive the de­mon out of her daugh­ter.
27  “First let the chil­d ren eat all they
want,” he told her, “for it is not ­r ight to
take the chil­dren’s ­bread and toss it to the
dogs.”
28  “Lord,” she re­plied, “even the dogs
un­der the ta­ble eat the chil­dren’s crumbs.”
29  Then he told her, “For such a re­
ply, you may go; the de­mon has left your
daugh­ter.”
30  She went home and ­found her ­c hild
ly­ing on the bed, and the de­mon gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf and
Mute Man
31  Then ­Jesus left the vi­c in­i­t y of Tyre
and went ­through Si­don, down to the Sea
of Gal­i­lee and into the re­gion of the De­
cap­o­lis.  c 32  There some peo­ple ­brought to
a  16 
Some manuscripts include here the words
of 4:23.    b  24  Many early manuscripts Tyre
and Sidon    c  31  That is, the Ten Cities   
MAKIN’ IT REAL
W
Mark 7:5 – 14
earing a signature sneaker doesn’t make
you an Olympic athlete. Owning a rockin’ electric guitar
doesn’t make you a guitar hero. And while obeying your
parents’ and teachers’ rules is cool, it doesn’t make you right with God.
Ouch!
J ­ esus’ message was radical: Changed lives don’t create changed hearts,
but changed hearts do create changed lives.
Connecting with God starts in your heart. When you have faith in God
and love for him on the inside, God transforms you on the outside. Just
like with a well that gushes impure water, you have to purify the water
source to get clean water. Your behavior will change because of your
heart for God. Trying to be a godly person by behaving better will only
lead to frustration because you’ll never get it just right. Start by going to
the source, your heart, and getting it right with God. Then let him take
care of the outside.