¹ 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, ‘Honor 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 ‘honor 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 honor 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.”

Dear God, I love how Jesus was trying to make a point to the Pharisees and teach his disciples a principle at the same time, and yet the disciples seem to be wondering just how astute Jesus is. After Jesus goes on his rant “the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” I love that. They must have been so puzzled by Jesus. They must have been wondering, “How can He talk to them this way? Doesn’t he know he is going to get in trouble?” Then some of them might have thought, “Hmm. Maybe He is so in tune with God that He is obtuse when it comes to how people hear what He says.

If I were rating my top five weaknesses in my Christian walk I would say that the fear of offending people definitely makes the list. I want to be liked. I don’t want to push someone too far. I don’t want to do something that might make them feel uncomfortable. Most to the point—I don’t want to do something that might make them not like me.

Father, as someone who raises money for a living I try to stay uncontroversial because I never know whose money I might send away with a controversial statement. At the same time, even when I didn’t raise money for a living I steered away from controversy. I guess I can’t blame that. So I guess my prayer is that I ask you to show me where I am failing you. As lent starts tomorrow, use it to truly purify my heart. Help me to repent of the things that I do against you and turn from them in a real way. Help me to grow over the next several weeks. Use them to make me the husband, father, employee, employer, son, brother, and friend you need me to be.