Today my reading of the Holy Gospel was of Matthew 15:1-20, where Christ chides the Pharisees for bending God's laws to suit their own lifestyles. (For example, instead of honoring their parents- a very important commandment in the eyes of God, as it is repeated numerous times in the Old and New Testament, the Pharisees claimed what money they would give to aid their parents they spent on God/the Temple, and thus got out of their duty.) Christ calls them on the hypocrisy of saying they are religious, and yet looking for ways to not have to do what God calls us to do.
Jesus then goes further, He calls the crowd to Him and teaches us that it is not what goes into our mouths that makes us sinful (the Jews had a prohibition against eating certain foods) but rather what comes out of our mouths and hearts that defiles us. When we speak harshly to another without cause, our words defile us. When our hearts seek to twist what we know we should do into something that is more pleasant for us (and thus we avoid doing as we should), by our hearts we are defiled.
The Pharisees had defiled themselves, in part, by shirking their God given duty to respect, honor and aid their parents, and had made it worse by trying to say they didn't have to because they did work for the Temple and for God. They, in effect, said to God, "We don't have to do what you tell us because we will do what we want in your name, and you should be happy with that." That is no way to honor God!
Watch what words you utter, for your words can be sinful. Watch the urgings of your heart, and test them, to make sure the sinful side of your spirit is not leading you astray. It is out of our mouths and hearts that sins springs forth and leads us into all sorts of problems; be it temper, lies, adultery, pride or neglect of duty.
Jesus then goes further, He calls the crowd to Him and teaches us that it is not what goes into our mouths that makes us sinful (the Jews had a prohibition against eating certain foods) but rather what comes out of our mouths and hearts that defiles us. When we speak harshly to another without cause, our words defile us. When our hearts seek to twist what we know we should do into something that is more pleasant for us (and thus we avoid doing as we should), by our hearts we are defiled.
The Pharisees had defiled themselves, in part, by shirking their God given duty to respect, honor and aid their parents, and had made it worse by trying to say they didn't have to because they did work for the Temple and for God. They, in effect, said to God, "We don't have to do what you tell us because we will do what we want in your name, and you should be happy with that." That is no way to honor God!
Watch what words you utter, for your words can be sinful. Watch the urgings of your heart, and test them, to make sure the sinful side of your spirit is not leading you astray. It is out of our mouths and hearts that sins springs forth and leads us into all sorts of problems; be it temper, lies, adultery, pride or neglect of duty.
No comments:
Post a Comment