Mark 7:1-13
Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.
The Pharisees and many other Jewish people obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating. None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.
The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?"
Jesus replied: You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said, "All of you praise me with your words, but you never really think about me. It is useless for you to worship me, when you teach rules made up by humans."
You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God. You won't let those people help their parents. And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things that are just as bad.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Have you ever known someone who says they don’t go to church because our churches are full of hypocrites? The fact is… they are right! But that doesn’t mean that the person who is making this statement is any less hypocritical or above those who come together to worship. Clearly, we are all hypocrites. Very few of us do even a halfway decent job of “walking the walk” we like to claim.
But this doesn’t mean we can’t do better. We must closely examine everything we say and do. Before we label someone as “crazy” or an “idiot,” we must think about Jesus’ command to love others as we love ourselves. They may still be crazy or act in an idiotic manner, but it is not our place to call them out on it. Before we sit down at a restaurant in public and clasp the hands of fellow diners to offer a prayer, we must ask ourselves, “Are we truly thanking God for the blessing of this meal, or are we making a show for others in the restaurant?”
People get so stirred up about the removal of prayer from school and the posting of the Ten Commandments from public buildings. And I don’t mean to start a ruckus here… but let’s be honest, is this really such a huge deal? After all, we are told in Scripture to pray in the privacy of our closets. So can’t students and teachers pray silently in their hearts, even if a prayer over the loudspeaker is prohibited? Are the Ten Commandments null and void just because we don’t see a list of them in our courthouses?
What are our real motives? Do we have pure hearts and desire to model the teachings of Jesus Christ? Do we desire to serve Him and honor HIS work in our lives… or are we more interested in impressing those around us? Until we get our own priorities straight, we have no business judging anyone else. And believe me, this is a tall order… for all of us!
We must prayerfully consider our behavior… our rituals and actions – especially those we claim in the name of Jesus. Are we really serving as His disciples, or are we more concerned with looking like we do? My cousin JD said in a recent sermon, “I know a lot of people who look right. Anybody can look right. But I don’t want to look right – I want to be right with Jesus.” Looking right and being right with God are two distinctly different things. Do you know the difference?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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