Clean and Unclean
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6 he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men. ’ ”
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men. ’ ”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”
Once again Jesus brings it down to the real issue - the heart. When our hearts are meek and humble, when our hearts are soft towards the workings of the Holy Spirit, when our hearts are filled with love and gratitude towards our gracious and merciful Father, when our hearts longing is to be like Jesus no matter what the cost - the external follows.
Someone can do the wrong things and have their heart in the wrong place.
Someone can do the right things and still have their heart in the wrong place.
Or someone can do the right things and have their heart in the right place. Only this last one is the right response and the fruit of a true believer.
What is your heart filled with?
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 15:21-28
1 comment:
v18 made me wince a little. The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. I know things come out of my mouth sometimes (too often) that shouldn't. But that doesn't mean I should just be more careful what comes out of my mouth. It's the attitudes of my heart that need a tune-up!
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