The Wednesday after the Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 30, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 15:1-9 (NKJV)
15:1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”—6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
9 ‘And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Devotion
On Sunday, our Lord told those listening to His Sermon on the Mount that their righteousness should exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. At first glance it looked like He was praising their righteousness. Today, we have an example of their “righteousness”. They come to question the Lord about the great trespass of the disciples who ate with unwashed hands.
Notice that they do not say “the tradition of Moses,” but rather “the tradition of the elders.” They have exchanged the Word of the Lord God for tradition. Moses instructed the Israelites to neither add nor subtract from the Word of God (Deut. 4:2). This is the point that our Lord makes when He shows how they break the Fourth Commandment by their tradition. People are prone to make up their own rules, ones which are easy to follow. Then they say that they have kept the Commandments. Their righteousness is great in their own eyes.
Our Lord requires perfection from the Law. He does not want us making up our own list of rules that we can point to and claim how righteous we are. This is supplanting the Lord. There is no true righteousness in these made-up works. Our Lord Jesus would rather have us trust in His perfect works and merits. Through faith in them we have His perfect righteousness credited to us.
Collect: Lord of all power and might, Who art the Author and Giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
