Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (NRSV)
Read Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 7Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, Verse 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. Verse 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; Verse 4and 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.) Verse 5So 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?" Verse 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
Verse 14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: Verse 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." Verse 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, Verse 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. Verse 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
Devotion
Our summer took off with the words from Isaiah: “Holy, holy, holy. ... Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6). The summer shuts down echoing Isaiah. What does it mean to have unclean lips?
Jesus brings us back to Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah’s definition of unclean lips: those who honor God with their lips, but whose hearts are far from God. God wishes to draw us deeper, bringing us beyond tradition and into faith. What is the purpose of tradition? To teach us God’s commandments and to support us as we live into faith.
Prayer
God of our hearts, your word became flesh and dwelt among us. We want to put that flesh back into words, back into tradition. Speak to us again and cleanse our lips as you move our hearts to faith. Through Jesus Christ, who abandoned his godly form to hold onto our own. Amen.