URC Daily Devotion Thursday 22nd January 2026
St Matthew 15: 1 – 20
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honour your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honour their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Reflection
The Pharisees were speaking of ritual washing; the disciples respected this purity law and pointed out to Jesus that he had offended the Pharisees. Jesus replied by pointing out that the Pharisees themselves broke their laws by failing to take care of their own parents following made-up human rules.
We have rules and laws to help create an ordered society and promote peace and harmony. But, as Jesus points out, some rules do not serve the people or are not relevant to every situation. Some rules become outdated or obsolete. Some rules are unjust, for example, the practice that prevented a woman from working in a professional job when she married. Some rules just don’t make sense.
The disciples were worried that Jesus had upset the Pharisees who they had respect for and wished to honour. But it was Jesus’ way to repeatedly question the laws that the Pharisees taught. There are many examples of his questioning the purity laws concerning the sick, the Gentiles, and the rules of the Sabbath by performing healings, and now with ritual washing. More than challenging the law, Jesus told the disciples to look deeper past the facade of authority and power and examine the intent of the words being used. Jesus asked ‘Are the words spoken and the rules made with love, understanding and concern for others or are they spoken and composed with selfishness and a lust for power over others?’ The words we speak, whoever we are, from the most powerful lawmaker to the humblest person, reveal what sort of person we are.
Jesus saw through the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The question he leaves us is ‘ Do we also create a facade to hide behind so as not to reveal who we really are or our intentions?’
Prayer
Loving God
we know how we want to be
but sometimes it is so difficult.
We create all sorts of facades to hide behind.
We believe we are right
and fail to see ourselves as others see us
Let us re-examine our hearts and minds today,
be honest with ourselves,
and try once more to see through all the rules
and traditions that we create
and become better followers of Jesus.
Amen