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15 Then 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 when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

1 Samuel 16: 7

Prayer

King Jesus, we come to You today to ask for the grace to see again. We come knowing we have sinned and we give those sins to You to remove from our lives. Please forgive us for the times we fall short and we can't see or understand what we are truly supposed to be doing. Clean up our vision, Lord, so that we can love You and love people as You first loved us. Today we see so many things we must do and say, but so often we miss the truth right in front of us. Give us eyes to see, Lord. Be with the weak and the broken today as you were when You walked the earth. Give us the faith to do the same.

In Your mighty name we pray. Amen.

Let's Look Up

As we start another new week, along with the time change yesterday, things are starting to look different outside and we are getting closer to those warm, sunny days of spring and summer! We can hear the birds outside each morning now, and I have found a few spots where the first flowers and grasses have started coming through the dirt again. Excitement is in the air! As we find ourselves in this changing of seasons, we need to ask ourselves if anything is changing within us, or if we are falling back into the ruts we once wanted to get out of so badly. Have we kept our Lenten plans of adding or removing things from our lives? Are we starting to get back into the old way of thinking again, just in time to get even more distracted by the weather and outdoor activities?

Reading from Matthew 15, when the Pharisees come to Jesus and challenge Him for not following their law of ceremonial hand washing, we see one of the toughest lessons the Pharisees learn in the Bible. They are doing everything—and more—“right” to look good for the Jews and to appear holier than everyone else by obeying a long list of laws and rituals. But Jesus quickly reminds them that some of these laws and rituals they have been keeping are actually going against God’s teaching. Jesus even challenges what we have been taught is good, like giving money to the church. If you give what you have to the church but your parents are hungry, thirsty, and needing financial help, you are not honoring your father and mother, and thus you are disobeying God.

Today we need to ask God honestly, “What am I doing that looks good on the outside, but is actually hurting my own spirit and those around me?” We need to see more clearly before the craziness of summer returns so that we can stop “looking good” for those around us and instead truly follow God and what He has commanded us—to love Him and to love people.