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1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. ) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 NIV)
A blessed and happy Monday to you all, ConCafe Family! May you bless the Lord today, dear Friend, in ways that God will show to you! We ask continued prayers for those suffering from Covid-19, and I urge prayers for our compadres, Jay and Janie Muñoz, who both have severe cases. Their daughter tried to get them an ambulance but with the hospitals in South Texas overcrowded, they could not pick them up. Please pray for their healing and comfort. Jay and Janie are our son-in-law Jesse's parents and they live in Ben Bolt, TX. Pray for the entire family they might be protected from this dreaded disease, and if any more are afflicted they might be healed. Pray for one another, pray for yourselves.
You might have had one of these sort of people in your life. Jesus certainly did. I had one in a supervisor at a mall at which I had a summer job as a security guard. This person just disliked me and my every move. At the time I was a struggling college student and my choice of shoes were cheap tennis shoes. I had only one pair of church shoes, or as my East Texas brothers and sisters would have called my Sunday-go-to-meeting shoes. As a security guard this person believed I should be wearing black shoes. I told him I did not own a pair. And I did not own a matching black belt. He made a fuss about my dress. Every day it was something different. I called my office and asked to be re-assigned and was sent to a dream assignment for an introvert as myself. I sat in an upstairs office of a two-story oil company building, with three monochrome monitors where I watched the entry door camera, and a camera on each floor. I had a list of employees and to enter they would buzz and I would ask their name and number, and if they were on my list I would buzz them in. So, imagine having the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law, from the head office in Jerusalem keeping their wicked eyes on you and your every move. And since they could never really find anything on Jesus, they also eyeballed the Disciples. And the only thing they could find was the disciples did not wash their hands before eating. And this irked them. I realize that for some of you reading or listening to this, you might agree with them, and I can't say that you are wrong for that; but the emphasis was not really on the cleaniless issue as it was to holding to tradition. And this is precisely the issue they chose to attack. Jesus responds by quoting Isaiah, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules." Jesus adds, "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions."
Jesus makes a great case of His stance with the statement he makes about this dispute. "Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come -- sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person."
So, was Jesus right, or were the detractors correct? I'm going to side with Jesus. He knew what He was talking about, and the Pharisees had lost their way in tradition and forgot about grace and love from God. Tradition has its place in some situtations, but when it comes to how one lives ouf one's faith, it can become easy to see that disobeying a tradition does not trump faithfulness and holiness towards God. Someone could say, "But I have clean hands!" And all while knowing that his/her heart was evil and filthy. How do we justify clean hands with theft or murder, or any of the sins listed in this passage? We can't. Jesus was right, and we have to agree, and better than agree, we have to obey and ask Him to clean our hearts. Purity with the Lord is better than honoring human traditions.
PRAYER: Loving God, cleanse our minds and our hearts. We do sometimes worry about holding to, and keeping traditions, instead of seeking purity of heart. We want to please You and glorify You by how we live and interact with You and Yours. We want to please only You, and no one else. We pray this in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Seek to please the Lord in a wonderful way today.
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
