This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honour your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But 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. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

“This people honours me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.” ’

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

- Matthew 15:1-20

The "tradition of the elders" is the interpretation of Mosaic Law by Jewish teachers. In this case, the issue is ritual purity. Once criticized, Jesus - contrary to our often-held image of the meek and mild Christ - turns the tables immediately upon the Pharisees and scribes with an accusation of his own. 'And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?' My study bible points out that the commandment to honor one's father and mother is the first of the Ten Commandments which deals with human relations. To quote from my study bible: "A work of service or devotion to God is of no value if in carrying it out one ignores personal responsibility to others. Right human relationships are a necessary element of Christian devotion."

To put this into context, Jesus is referring to a practice which, as I understand it, was something like a trust. By claiming one's property was consecrated to the temple, one was therefore excused from using one's goods to support elderly parents without means. In so doing, property owners reserved their goods for their own exclusive use. So, Jesus is condemning a practice that refutes the design or aim of the Commandment for a supportive society, one in which the helpless or needy have some sort of safety net of protection and care. As he so often does, Jesus is pointing to the aim of the law - and criticizes those who find ways to practice in some sense what is deemed to be the "letter of the law" and avoid the entire purpose for which it was given, and thus the character of the God it honors and by whom it was presumably given. There is no love or mercy in this interpretation, but rather it is self-serving while claiming to honor God.

Jesus quotes from Isaiah to illustrate the difference in practice and interpretation from the true aim of the given law:

“This people honours me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

One of the most important teachings of Christ we have is his discourse on what defiles a person. It is not what we eat or drink but rather defilement is a concern of the heart. Ritual purity doesn't depend on the stomach. Nor does it depend on what a person does or doesn't do. Rather the heart, the center of all that a person is, becomes the place on which we should focus in order to guard ourselves from evil and keep ourselves pure in a spiritual sense. We are told elsewhere that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" and that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." We must be aware that to produce good fruit, we're not dependent upon rituals but upon what is truly within us. The real, deep practice of our spirituality is about what we are in our hearts, what we choose to guard there, to keep there, to jettison or to treasure. Who we are as people is the deepest place we go - and yet, all of Jesus' teaching points to this place of what is real and what is true and meaningful. And it is there he asks us to go. I don't think we can avoid what this is and how deeply we can continue to go in coming to terms with what is meant by this deepest place of the self, and of identity, in spiritual terms.

'Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.' Here, Jesus goes further, and pronounces that that which is not truly rooted in the good soil of the heart will be uprooted. He warns his disciples and in effect the Pharisees and scribes that the teaching of false doctrines will render the teacher obsolete. What is not of the lasting value of true spiritual reality will be uprooted. The blind can only lead the blind for so long before their blindness catches up to them.

As with Saturday's reading, where Jesus walks on the water and bids Peter to "come," Peter pushes for more here and asks for an explanation. Jesus once again complies with Peter's request and answers: 'Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.'

We can make all the rules we want for ourselves, live a clean life, wear the best clothes, a spic and span home, support the right causes, voice the right opinions, model ourselves on our appearance of virtue. But the life of the Spirit will always call us toward what is in the heart and to examine what is there. This is the field of Spirit, the ground of our orientation to the divine. We make choices. We clearly have the capacity, as far as Jesus is concerned, to make such choices and to be aware of what we guard in our hearts and what we choose not to value. We always make choices. We can make a choice for awareness, to begin with. We can place our emphasis on what is in the heart. What do you value? Where is your treasure?