This people honours me only with lip-service...

Blogged by James Preece on 3rd September 2012

It's been a while since I had an evangelical wave this bible verse in my face and tell me it proves Catholicism wrong, but if any are reading, they may be amused to hear that this reading was read yesterday in thousands of Catholic Churches across the world...

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:

This people honours me only with lip-service,
while their hearts are far from me.
The worship they offer me is worthless,
the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

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As I have said before - the problem with the Pharisees was not that they had rules. God gave them the rules! The problem was that they played the rules and gamed the system in order to remain legally righteous while their hearts were far from God.

I'm quite sure there are Catholics and evangelicals who fall in to that trap.

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Reader Comments

Ebeneezer said...

Another interesting question for non-Catholic Christians is: What makes this a "Bible verse" as opposed to "something some guy wrote"?

Chrysostom said...

I cannot see the difficulty with this text or any other of the Holy Bible. It is obvious that the words of Our Blessed Lord cannot always be taken literally and need interpreting by the infallible Church that He founded: "He who hears you hears Me." Those who take His words literally will, I suppose, cut off their right hands occasionally and will call no man their Father. That will be after they have sold all they possess and given it to the poor. So, anyone who replies saying that Our Blessed Lord's words must be taken literally will not be obeying His injunction to sell all their possessions since they must be using a computer.
Our Lady Help of Christians - pray for us.
St Athanasius - pray for us
All Ye English Martyrs - pray for us.
St. Charles Lwanga and Companion Martyrs of Uganda, who died resisting homosexual rape - pray for us.

Collect of the Day

Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy, and because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation. Through...

mike cliffson said...

Christosom:
Not wholly frivolous objection:
"So, anyone who replies saying that Our Blessed Lord's words must be taken literally will not be obeying His injunction to sell all their possessions since they must be using a computer."
No :He MAY have given all away, and SINCE been materially blessed again in some way, perhaps by the gift of a computer.
Seriously, this does happen! God CAN work in this way! Romney, a mormon, turns aout to have done it, Ive known anglicans, and catholics, Able to give away freely, who did so, and were materially very blessed all their very generous lives.

John Maurice said...

Should it not be "these people"?

Mark Dobson said...

Don’t know about the Greek (although it’s an OT quote anyway), but “people” in English can be treated either as singular or plural. Singular emphasises the “community, nation, ethnic group, etc.” (OED) whereas people as plural is more neutral and consequently probably more appropriate when singling out a group within a community, such as the Pharisees amongst the Jews for example.