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Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-
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The Pharisee in each of us wants to "get it right." In the gospel passages for the next several weeks from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is concerned that we "get it." So Jesus takes the ordinary things of life, from washing hands to attending to a child, and meets us where we are and helps us to "get it," finding blessings in the ordinary.
In Sunday's reading temple security guards, those responsible for guarding the purity of the religion, are getting hung up on rules that seem urgent to them. But they are missing what is important. Jesus dismisses their concerns about who washed what and insists that these concerns are reducing the ability to hear and do God's word. What is important is not what goes into the body, it is what comes out of our hearts. Consider how you might respond to this statement: "We have a God who loves us unconditionally. Yet sometimes I find myself obsessing with 'getting it right.' and so I miss 'getting it.' "
Come to St. Timothy's on Sunday. Let's lift our hearts and voices in praise and thanksgiving as together we seek to hear and to do God's word.
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