How does Jesus deal with prejudice? Mark 7:14-24

The Heart of the Matter

Have you ever caught yourself judging someone before you really knew them? Maybe it was their accent, their job, their political views, or even which football team they support. We like to think we're above prejudice, but it has a way of hiding in places we don't expect.

Matt Edmundson explored a passage in Mark's Gospel that's easy to skim over — Jesus teaching about clean and unclean foods. But this isn't really about what you eat. It's about something much deeper: what's actually going on in your heart. And the uncomfortable truth is that prejudice can lurk there even in people who've walked closely with Jesus.

Easy to Miss

We're looking at Mark 7:14-24.

Jesus called the crowd together and said something that would have been shocking to Jewish ears: "What truly contaminates a person is not what he puts into his body, but what comes out — that's what makes a person defiled."

For people who'd grown up with strict food laws, this was radical. Certain foods were unclean. Eating them made you unclean. It was part of how they understood holiness.

But Jesus was flipping the whole thing. It's not what goes in that's the problem. It's what comes out.

When the disciples admitted they didn't understand, Jesus's response was surprisingly blunt. As Matt pointed out, "The Message translation writes, 'Are you being willfully stupid in asking me this question?' In other words, come on guys, you need to get this."

Peter's Long Learning Curve

Here's where it gets interesting. Peter was in that room. He heard Jesus say this. But years later, he still hadn't fully grasped it.

In Acts chapter 10, Peter has a vision. A huge sheet descends from heaven covered with animals that Jewish law called unclean. God tells him to kill and eat. Peter refuses — "I can't eat that, it's unclean."

Matt's observation was encouraging: "It's beautiful news for me because I don't always get it the first time round. It takes a little bit of time for God sometimes to get through to me, and I feel like I'm in good company because Peter was like that."

But this vision wasn't really about food. It was about people.

The Real Issue

A Roman centurion named Cornelius had sent servants to find Peter. Before the vision, Peter would never have gone to see him. As Matt explained, "The Jewish people would not have hung out with the Roman centurion. They just wouldn't have done that."

Peter even says it directly when he arrives: "It is unlawful for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to another nation."

That's prejudice. And Peter had been brought up with it. It was part of his belief system — clean doesn't mix with unclean. Whether that was bacon or Romans.

As Matt put it: "I don't eat bacon and I don't mix with Romans. That's what I don't do because they're unclean and they're gonna pollute me."

But something shifted. Peter watched the Holy Spirit fall on Cornelius's family. And he finally got it: "In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. He is Lord of all."

But Then Paul Shows Up

You'd think that would be the end of the story. Peter has his breakthrough. Lesson learned. But there's a third chapter.

Years later, the Apostle Paul is in a room where Peter is eating with Gentiles — non-Jewish people. He's eating whatever food they're eating. No problem.

Until his Jewish friends walk in.

Suddenly Peter separates himself. He goes and sits with the Jewish people and only eats what they're eating.

Paul called it hypocrisy. And he didn't hold back.

Matt read the key verse: "I realise they were acting inconsistently with the revelation of grace."

That phrase is striking. Peter was saying the right things. He'd had the vision. He knew the theology. But his behaviour told a different story.

"Whilst he was saying that he wasn't prejudiced against the non-Jewish people, he was acting in a way that was inconsistent with that. He was being a hypocrite."

What the Gospel Tears Down

Paul's point was that the revelation of grace leaves no room for prejudice. There's no divide between Jew and Gentile, slave or free, man or woman.

As Matt explained: "The gospel just tears it down and says he is Lord of all. We are all one. He's the head, we are the body. And we're all different. And we've got all these different things going on, but we're all equal and we're all important."

This was the biggest issue facing the early church. Should Gentiles become Jews before they could become Christians? Paul dealt with it constantly. And Peter had to go through three separate learning experiences before it really sank in.

If prejudice could trip up someone who'd literally gone fishing with Jesus, Matt's conclusion was sobering: "I am definitely not immune from this."

Division Is Everywhere

Matt didn't shy away from applying this to today. The political divide in the US between different camps. Brexit in the UK and the anger that flew across from both sides — even from Christians. Even in Liverpool, where families are divided over whether they support Liverpool or Everton.

"Despite the rhetoric, I think division is massive and rife in the world."

And here's the uncomfortable bit: "The irony is not lost on me. The intolerance of the tolerance movement is extraordinary."

But Matt was quick to turn it back on himself: "That's not to criticise anyone because I don't think the church is immune from this."

A Heart Problem

This brings us back to Jesus's original point. Evil doesn't start with external things. It starts in the heart.

"Evil originates from inside a person, coming out of a human heart are evil schemes..."

Matt's take: "Prejudice is just nothing but pure evil. Genuinely pure evil. But it's a heart matter."

We tend to look at external appearances. Does someone look right? Sound right? Act right? Do they conform to how we think people should be?

"I am always looking to that outward appearance rather than the heart of the person."

But God looks at the heart. And if we want to change our behaviour, we need a change of heart.

Keeping Your Heart

Proverbs says: "Keep your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life."

Everything flows from the heart. If prejudice or bitterness or anger takes root there, it will eventually show up in how we act. Peter proved that.

So how do you guard your heart?

For Matt, it comes back to scripture: "You just have to get in and dig into God's word because it gets in your face and it challenges you on your heart and what is in your heart."

He noted that one of the first things that gets attacked in the Christian life is time in scripture: "If I get at scripture, I get at your heart. And if I stop you reading the Bible, I can poison your heart."

The word of God is described in Hebrews as "sharper than any two-edged sword... a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart." It doesn't let us off the hook. It challenges us.

The Checklist Trap

It's easy to read Jesus's list — sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed — and do a mental checklist. Tick, tick, tick. I'm fine.

But Matt pointed to the deeper layer. Jesus elsewhere says that anger is connected to murder. You might never kill anyone, but how often do you harbour anger or resentment?

"Everybody that kills somebody or murders somebody, you look, you trace it all back. There'll be some anger and bitterness in their heart that just dictated their behaviour and it changed over time."

The checklist approach misses the point. It's not about external compliance. It's about what's actually going on inside.

God's Favourite

Matt shared a story about registering the domain "God's favourite.com" years ago. When you typed it in, you just saw a picture of him. It was a running joke with friends about who was God's favourite.

But then he got serious: "Whilst on one hand Peter said that there is no favouritism — God doesn't show favouritism — in other words, we're all his favourites."

The danger is thinking that makes us better than anyone else. "What I'm not saying is that you are not his favourite. I'm not trying to put you down. That would be totally wrong on every kind of level."

We're all equally loved. Degree or no degree. Whatever your skin colour, political beliefs, or how you voted.

What This Means for Monday Morning

Matt left us with three questions worth sitting with:

• What does "heart" mean to you? When scripture talks about the heart, what do you understand by that? It's where your desires and emotions begin — what drives you towards action.

• Do you have any prejudices? Not an easy question. Is there any bitterness, anger, or sense of superiority towards people who think differently, vote differently, or live differently?

• What's the last revelation you had from God's word? When did scripture last challenge you? Yesterday? Last week? Last month? If we're not regularly in God's word, we're leaving our hearts unguarded.

A Revelation Worth Having

Matt closed with a personal story. Early in his Christian walk, he had a simple mathematical revelation from two verses. One said to love others as God loves you. Another said to love others as you love yourself.

The consistency was loving others. So the implication was: "I should love myself as God loves me."

Scripture says not to think more highly of yourself than you ought. But you ought to think highly of yourself. Not better than others — but not less than others either.

"You need to learn to love yourself with the same love that Christ has for you. It's an extraordinary command."

A Question Worth Asking

What would change if you took seriously that God shows no partiality?

Maybe it would shift how you think about people who vote differently. Maybe it would challenge the subtle superiority that creeps in when we think our way of doing things is the right way. Maybe it would expose some prejudice we didn't know was there.

Peter needed three lessons before it sank in. Jesus's teaching. The vision. And Paul's rebuke. He walked closely with Jesus and still struggled.

We probably will too. But the invitation is to keep letting God's word examine our hearts — and to keep discovering that he is Lord of all.