versus- pt 3

in matthew 15, the religious leaders got bent at Jesus because His disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate- thus breaking the tradition of the elders.  Jesus called the crowd of people together and said it’s not what enters your mouth that defiles you, but what comes out of your mouth that does.  later (matthew 15:15), peter asked Jesus to explain what that meant.  so Jesus broke it off like this.  ”Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?  but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.  these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

so many times i think we still fall into that trap of focusing on the externals while ignoring the real issue- our heart.  we want to make sure that nobody goes to the wrong place or drinks the wrong thing, or doesn’t do this or does do that.  and i get that we have to be conspicuous in the way we live- holy even.  but Jesus just seemed to care about a whole different set of stuff and degree of “rightness” than we do.  somehow i don’t think He got tore up over the stuff we get bent about.  He fixated on the internal stuff- thoughts, passions, attitudes.  more directly, He’s interested in my thoughts, my passions, my attitudes… and yours too.  the external stuff, He said, doesn’t defile us and make us unclean.  but the mess i tolerate in my mind, the hate i let linger in my heart, the selfishness in my spirit, that stuff keeps me from the purity He desires in me.  i’m reminded of what david wrote in psalm 139- God sees it all- he knows my thoughts and my words- even before i speak them.  so at the end of the psalm david asked God to search him and try him to see if there was “any hurtful way IN me.”  maybe that’s really what i need to be striving for too.  i can have my outer man in complete conformity with all religious expectations and still be far from God because of what i hold in my heart.  but if my heart is completely given to God and pure, then it doesn’t matter what anybody else says about my outside.  

i think this is a word for the church today.  what is it that we are really concerned about- making sure people “behave” or trying to help people love God from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith?