https://youtube.com/live/nDK5Wy42M
As we continue to move through the book of Mark, it seems that each new episode reveals increasing pressure on Jesus and the gospel message. In this passage, that pressure is centred around the legalistic religious Pharisees, and it allows us to contrast the gospel itself with religion. Some might assume that they are the same thing but they are not at all. As simple as it would be to focus on the problems with the Pharisees themselves, the more challenging question we must all wrestle with is identifying the tendencies towards the Pharisee in us. The encouragement and challenge from this passage is to understand how the gospel protects us from religion and all its trappings and calls us to focus on the essentials, reject self-righteousness, and pursue sincere worship.