Jesus Teaches about Purity

15:1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

4 "For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'

5 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"

6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

7 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

8 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,

BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

9 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,

TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

10 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.

11 "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?"

13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.

14 "Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

The Heart of Man

15 Peter said to Him, "Explain the parable to us."

16 Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also?

17 "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?

18 "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

20 "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

Tradition, the Ten Commandments and Purity

Look at the world today. We live in a society. That society needs tradition along with rules and regulations to survive. Think what the world would be like without them -- Chaos!

The same was true in Jesus' time and order has to be maintained to sustain a civilization. The Jews returned from Babylon and immediately tried to piece their lives back together by establishing governing bodies.

Enter: The Pharisees

The teachers of the law took the Testament of God and started adding by-laws to Scripture in order to explain and interpret the meaning. While doing so they inadvertently established rules for every aspect of Jewish life and called it the word of God.

"Honor Your Father and Mother"

So, according to these laws a Jewish person could take away money set aside for their parents welfare if they gave it as an offering. So, in giving to God (which is something we all should do) was at the expense of neglecting the parents thereby breaking the commandment of "Honor thy mother and thy father.".

A footnote: Some scholars say that in fact, the Pharisees were not giving this money to the Synagogue either but were using it themselves. Giving to the church could be a good "alibi", couldn't it?

How about us?

Do we sometimes get so involved in "doing for God" that we forget to do for each other? Jesus was asked the question in Matthew 22:36-40 about the two greatest commandments ..

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments".

So, give to the Lord but give also to your neighbors and family. Then, and only then will we be true followers of Christ.

Pure Food for Thought

Remember, what we eat could make us sick but what we say or do can make many other people sick! The next time we open our mouths to speak let's think about how many people are watching - and hearing our words. God knows what is in our hearts and the words of our mouth will reflect who we are in our relationship with Him.

Love In Christ

- Bob

Matthew 13:53-58 - The People of Nazareth Reject Jesus