When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalemgathered around Jesus,they observed that some of his disciples ate their mealswith unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,do not eat without carefully washing their hands,keeping the tradition of the elders.And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the eldersbut instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded,“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”He summoned the crowd again and said to them,“Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;but the things that come out from within are what defile.“From within people, from their hearts,come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,adultery, greed, malice, deceit,licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.All these evils come from within and they defile.”
REFLECTION
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.
God gave the commandments to Moses for the people to have a guide to live their lives. And we are reminded by Moses, "For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
In James, we are instructed that God gave us the word of truth so that we could humbly welcome the word that has been planted in us and is able to save souls. We are to be doers of the word, live out the word in our lives and not delude ourselves into believing that "lip service" will suffice in our salvation.
And finally the dear Lord, through Isaiah reminds the Pharisees that He lives in the hearts of people and it is in this that we will honor God.
PAPA's handbook states that to gain wisdom, (Jesus is the wisdom of God), we Pray, Serve and Bless (PSB). And to serve we do so with Prayer, Word and Deed. (PWD). Because He became human, the incarnate God, Jesus, we can invoke His name and we can call Him into our hearts.
In PAPA Top Secret III we are told if we want to be saved, call His Name, if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, call His Name, if we want to live forever in Holy Love, call His Name, if we want the heavenly Kingdom of Jesus Christ to come on this earth right now, call on His Name and if we want Jesus to be the Lord God of our life and the life of all human beings, invoke His Holy Name.
Dear Lord, I pray that all defilement in me, be replaced by the saving power of the Most Holy Name.
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