Slices
Prepare
How do your words and conversation reflect what is going on in your heart? Trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in you. Allow yourself to have a teachable spirit.
Bible passage
That which defiles
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, “Honour your father and mother” and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,” 6 they are not to “honour their father or mother” 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 honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’
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 the blind lead the blind, 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 a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.’
Explore
The highest-ranking religious élite from Jerusalem directly oppose Jesus’ disciples’ lifestyle – for which, as their rabbi, he would have been responsible (vs 1,2). The Pharisees were following their own interpretation of the Law, which focused on specific rules of conduct to the detriment of compassion and integrity: they were keen on ritual hand-washing, but neglected vulnerable parents (v 5). Jesus’ response to their faulty reasoning is a challenging question (v 3), combined with his understanding of the Law (see Exodus 21:17). He tackles their faulty, hypocritical teaching head on, exposing those who are trapped in a rigid adherence to tradition and surface-level purity (see also Colossians 2:8).
In contrast, Jesus’ words dig deeper and reveal the dark reality of the human heart (v 19; Matthew 12:33–35). At the centre of jostling crowds as many touch his coat (14:34–36), he is not made unclean. Instead, he heals. Working in tandem with his teaching, his actions point people to God: kingdom righteousness works from the inside out, on contact with Jesus. With his radical and compassionate ministry, Jesus restores people to wholeness (14:36). Where do you need this today?
Respond
Have you ever got caught up in some religious details that took you away from the big picture of God’s redeeming, saving grace? Confess any hypocrisy in your life, and receive the freedom of God’s lavish love and forgiveness.
Deeper Bible study
‘Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart’.1
Hand-washing has recently become important for the whole world,2 but it seems a long journey (from Jerusalem to Galilee) for the Pharisees to take to question Jesus on his disciples’ adherence to the regulations! Jesus, knowing full well that the Law did not require such hand-washing, chose not to give a direct answer to the question posed (v 2). As so often, he responded with a question of his own. Challenging the power of tradition, he focused on a particular practice that some had of making an offering to the Temple that was commensurate with the cost of caring for one’s parents, thus absolving one of the responsibility to ‘Honour your father and your mother’.3 For us, it may not be ceremonial hand-washing or putting money in the offering plate instead of feeding destitute parents that is at stake – but take a moment to reflect on what immaterial rituals we do cling to.
John Stott reflects, ‘We need to listen again to the biblical criticism of religion. No book, not even by Marx and his followers, is more scathing of empty religion than the Bible.’4 Jesus dismisses the play-acting of the religious, focusing instead on the heart condition. He isn’t against tradition, as some may surmise. On the contrary, his criticism of the Pharisees is that their contemporary practice was undermining the original tradition. May God grant us wisdom to discern between healthy and hypocritical tradition.
Recently my mentor, after listening graciously to my account of the exhaustive ministry opportunities taken since we’d last met, simply asked, ‘How is your heart?’ The question caused me to sit up and hear the voice once again of God. May God give each of us the courage to allow his Spirit to examine our hearts.
‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’5
1 Ps 24:3,4 2 Written during the Covid-19 pandemic 3 Exod 20:12 4 John Stott, The Contemporary Christian, IVP, 1992, p228 5 Ps 139:23,24
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 55,56; Hebrews 10
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Content Assistant, Annabel Moule, who has been working on a seasonal booklet Jesus is the Light to communicate the love and light of Jesus around Halloween. Pray that the booklet will be widely used and will bring hope to many.
