Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and 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.) So 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?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly 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 human precepts as doctrines.” You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’ (Mark 7:1-8, NRSV)
Do you wash your hands before you eat?
Most of us will say yes. Because your parents told us to. We know if we don’t wash up we could get sick….
We do it because we were told to do it…
Or for hygiene…
What about praying before you eat?
Do you always say a prayer before you eat?
Always? At school? in public?
Why?
Because you were told to? Because you always have?
Because it is right to give thanks for everything God has given us?
Why do we do the things we do, because it honors God and the love He has given us?
Or is it to uphold a human tradition we may know nothing about?
Look at what you do and why you do it, and live out the life that God calls you to live. Not doing things because it will make someone happy. Do things that will make God happy by living for Him and His creation!
aSacredRebel 