Tuesday 2nd March 2021

The Tradition of the Elders

15Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ²‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.’ ³He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said,^* “Honour your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” ⁵But you say that whoever tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God”,^* then that person need not honour the father.^{* 6}So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word^* of God. ⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:
⁸ “This people honours me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me;
⁹ in vain do they worship me,
   teaching human precepts as doctrines.” ’

Things That Defile

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: ¹¹it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ ¹²Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ ¹³He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.^* And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ ¹⁵But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ ¹⁶Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’

NRSV