Mark 7

 The Pharisees and scribes went to Jesus and complained that Jesus' disciples ate bread with "defiled...unwashed hands..." because it contradicted the Jewish tradition of washing hands, cups, pitchers, etc. in a special manner before eating.

Jesus called those men hypocrites and noted that Isaiah prophesied about them, saying:

The people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. 

By that He meant they had rejected he commandment of God and propped up the tradition of men. Jesus also reminded them that Moses told them to honor father and mother or face death, but they made up their own law to bypass what Moses commanded; therefore, they did not have to honor their parents. 

Then Jesus told the multitude that nothing that enters a man can defile him, but that which comes out of him. "If anyone has ears, let him hear." His disciples later asked Him what He meant, and He explained that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him because it cannot enter his heart, but rather his stomach and is eliminated. 

But from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All of these evil things come from within and defile a man.

Afterward, He went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and a Greek woman sought Jesus and fell at his feet begging Him to heal her young daughter who had an unclean spirit. He explained that it was necessary that the children of Israel be filled first (with the gospel), and it was not right to take their bread and share it with the little dogs (Gentiles).

But she replied, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." And Jesus told her to go her way because the demon had left her daughter. 

Next Jesus went to Decapolis, and someone brought a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Jesus to heal him. Jesus put His ears in the man's ears and then touched the man's tongue, and said, "Be opened." Immediately the man's ears were opened and his tongue was loosed. The people said, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

COMMENTARY

A little background: during the intertestamental period of the Bible (the time between the OT and NT), several new groups were formed: 

Scribes: professional expounders of the Law who started our correctly but ended up "hair-splitting," focusing more on the letter of the Law than the spirit of the Law. 

Pharisees: defended the Jewish way of life against foreign influence, true nationalists, but they became strict legalists. They thought they could bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. They believed in the supernatural, but couldn't see the truth even when it slapped them in the face. 

Sadducees: these were the wealthy and socially-(worldly-)minded who did not care for tradition and they rejected the supernatural

Herodians: political party of opportunists seeking to keep the Herods on the throne. 

In the confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus called them hypocrites because they were only concerned with what they looked like on the outside. 

Jesus explained that in the heart is what defiles a man, and He listed these evil things:

1. evil thoughts

2. adulteries and fornication: unlawful sexual relations

3. murders: including hatred

4. theft: including not working when you are getting paid

5. covetousness: like greediness

6. wickedness: anything intended to hurt people

7. deceit: like lying 

8. lasciviousness: sensuality

9. evil eye: envy

10. blasphemy: slander against God and man

11. pride: God hates this above all else

12. foolishness: without respect for God or man

About the Greek women--it may seem cruel what Jesus had said to her about "the little dogs," but He tested and demonstrated her faith. He meant that the Jews were to receive Him first, and then the message would go to the Gentiles; but she already believed, and her faith healed her daughter.