Good day dear friends. At the start of the new work week and for many, first day of school; may God's love and protection be with you and yours. May the rich blessings of God bring peace to you; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Mark 7: 1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. ) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6 He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." 14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (NRSV)
There is now a ritual in many churches today, of using the hand sanitizer before serving Holy Communion. I hear of some churches were the communion servers wear gloves. And about four years ago, there was a scare of a flu that had some churches cancel the celebration of The Lord's Supper out of fear. What would Jesus make of that, given what He taught in today's passage? The disciples around Jesus were closely watched, as was Jesus, to see what offense they could find in their daily lives. Being married to tradition and customs, the religious people of Jesus' day, watched closely to see what they could charge Jesus or His followers with, to stop His ministry. In today's passage the best they could do was to find that the disciples did not always wash their hands before eating. This is a violation of a "tradition of the elders." Yes, it is common sense to wash one's hands before eating, but given their schedule and their haste in getting out God's message on occasion the disciples did not wash their hands. The accusation of the Pharisees and those with them is met by Jesus' truth about what really defiles a person. Is it what goes into a person that defiles one? Or, is it what comes out? The list of those sins and actions that come out of a person was why Jesus came in the first place. Jesus wanted to remove the barriers and obstacles to God's love, and to hear that a germ or two making their way into a person's stomach was laughable.
It is what is in your heart that produces your thoughts, words and actions. It is these that help others determine where your heart really is. Jesus saw the actions of the Pharisees and the religious as a fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah, "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' Going farther, Jesus added, " You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." We're guilty of that too, in our lives, our homes, and sadly, even in our churches; we place a higher value on the things we've established for our comfort and convenience, and we ignore the commandments of God. It gives our hearts away; for in so doing, God is no where to be found in us. We should strive to be people of love, placing God first and seeking to serve all of God's creatures; then it will be said that we honor God with our hearts and our lips.
PRAYER: Loving God, forgive us for the times traditions and customs we believe serve us better than love and compassion. Help us to overcome these barriers and obstacles in our lives and practices and rise to a level of love and service. May it be said of us that we are people of love. We pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
