Mark 7:14-37

After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. [Let those with ears use them and listen.]” When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.” Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard that he was there. So she quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.” But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.” Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone. Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns. While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk plainly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him. Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly. Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk he makes able to speak.”