The Pharisees and scribes come to Jesus to complain that the disciples are not washing their hands, transgressing their tradition. Jesus turns this around and accuses them of making their traditions more important than God's Word. Which is more important? What God commands or what man teaches?
They paid God lip service, but in reality their traditions had become more important and their hearts were impure because of it.
"Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Jesus taught. ( v11) He explains this further to his disciples, " But the things that proceed out of the mouth come form 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."
Hear and understand, Jesus reminds us once again, it is what is in the heart that matters. Good heart= good words. Evil hearts=evil words. It has nothing to do with what we eat! Or how we eat it!
It has nothing to do with food or drink, clothing, or possessions. It has everything to do with what is in the center of our beings - with our hearts.
If we do not keep our hearts filled with the good seed, with the Word of God, through the Spirit of God, then we are in the same position that Jesus talked about in Matthew 12:44-45. The evil spirit finds it unoccupied and comes with more evil spirits to occupy and make us worse than ever.
Father, cleanse our hearts! You alone are strong enough to cast out all evil from our hearts and make us perfectly pure. Wash us and we shall be whiter than snow! Take every thought captive. Take every false idea and tradition and habit, expose them with the Light of Your Word. That we might confess our sin and be forgiven and set free. Give us a love and desire to know Your Word, that we might know You more. We ask this in the Name of the One Who paid it all, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen
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