Wednesday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 17, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 15:10-20 (NKJV)
15:10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
Devotion
Our Lord’s disciples were concerned that the Pharisees were offended by His teaching. But He commanded the disciples: “Let them alone.” In a sense, our Lord is saying, “Let them be offended.” It is good if God’s Word offends the hearts of prideful sinners. It is better for them to be stirred up so that they might be brought to repentance!
We should not try to be offensive and rude, but if God’s truth and works offend sinners, so be it. It is disturbing that so many people in our time are so ignorant and desensitized to God’s Word that they are not even offended by it. They are offended by being told that they are wrong, or offended by being told to stop their destructive behavior. But the spiritual implications of Christ’s saying, “what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man,” just seems to bounce off their chests.
Our gracious Lord Jesus continues to teach and bless us through His Church, calling the multitudes to “hear and understand.” Our lives as Christians should reflect the spiritual truth of our God’s love and wisdom. We should confess Jesus Christ’s atonement and His commands in all that we do and say, according to our proper vocations. And our hope should always be that those who are lost might hear, understand, repent, and be saved by this power and grace of God!
Collect: O God, Whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; 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.
