Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat. ”

Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death. ’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you. ’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. ’”

Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth. ” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch. ”

Matthew 15:1-14

Dear God, Jesus responding to the Pharisees with a question of his own made me think of an interaction I had with another pastor in our town almost three years ago. He sent out an email to the local ministerial association about why we weren’t, as a group, more engaged in the “pornography in the school libraries” issue. I replied back that I was actually more concerned about the pornography on their phones and their friends’ phones than I was about the books in the libraries. I didn’t say this at the time, but I’ve come to see the library books as a distraction from the real danger that’s being ignored.

So how do I major in the majors and keep myself from being distracted by the unimportant? I think the first way is to just stay close to you and keep listening for and to your still small voice. Then I need to internalize it and seek your will and blessing for my path. If you plant seeds in me, I want them to grow 100 fold.

Father, I give you this day. I give you my ego and the things I think I know, but I don’t. I’m sorry for my arrogance and pride. I’m sorry for my slothfulness. You are my God and I will do my best to follow you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen