Mark 7:1-23
The Gospel today speaks of cleanliness. While the Scribes and Pharisees worry about ritual washings and purification rituals, Jesus points to the truth that it matters more what a person has within them, in their hearts, which makes them unclean. All of the rituals that the Jews were forced to perform were just outward motions with no true meaning. The matters of sinful inclinations and evil within men were of much more concern to Jesus than wither someone washed their hands before eating or not. Outward signs were merely to impress those around someone, showing them that they were good Jews and were obeying the “law.” Jesus wants us to understand that it is the things that we do to one another that is the real test of what defiles one. If we do evil to another that is the true defilement, that is what makes a person unclean. In our world today people feel free to pretty much say what they want to others without regard to the feelings or the situation of the other person. We speak easily and freely of each other’s issues and shortcomings. I think that our use of pretty much anonymous communications over our numerous devices makes us loose a bit of restraint that we would normally have when dealing with people face to face. This can be a kind of defilement of ourselves, hurting the feelings of others and maybe even causing issues that could be avoided. So let us take care and strive to make our communication to one another as civil and Christian as possible to avoid having hurt come out of our hearts.
Your servant in Christ
Deacon Bill
The Spirit Speaks to Us 