Mark 7:5-13 - And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him [Jesus], "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with [unwashed] hands?" And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold the tradition of men." And He said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."

This story can be hard to understand, but one thing comes through loud and clear: Jesus gets ferocious when religious people fuss about details and ignore human need. This time He skips right over the hand-washing and goes to a bigger problem in their way of doing things.

Let me explain. In those days it was possible for a man to make a vow dedicating something to God forever. That thing, whatever it was, was called "Corban." You couldn't take back a vow like that; whatever you promised was permanent.

So Jesus gives the example of a man who uses this custom to get out of paying support for his elderly parents. All he has to do is say, "Sorry, I've vowed all your future support to God," and from that point on, it doesn't matter if his parents starve in the streets—the religious leaders would tell him to keep his vow.

Now that's shocking! And what's worse is, Jesus says, "You have a lot of things like that." Who should know better than Jesus, the very God who gave the Law to start with?

I'm sure the religious leaders were hugely offended. But God is even more offended when we use religious rules to harm other human beings. And this is all too easy to do, when we stop looking at the lovingkindness of God, and the needs of our neighbors.

What is the cure for this? Only one thing—to allow Jesus to live within us, with all His kindness and mercy, using us to care for the people around us. And that can only happen if we allow Jesus to care for us first—to forgive us and remake us as God's children through His own death and resurrection. Because that's what He came to do—to lay down His own life and take it up again, so that we could share in His own everlasting life and joy and freedom. It's not more rules that we need; we need Jesus. Only He can change our hearts. And He is enough.

WE PRAY: Lord Jesus, when I get caught up in the rules, help me to look at You instead, and trust in Your love for us. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever seen someone get so caught up in the rules that they ignore human need?

2. Why does this happen?

3. If Jesus is living inside you and through you, how does that set you free?

Today's Bible Readings: 1 Chronicles 20-22    1 Corinthians 14:1-20

To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"