Lip Service
Nothing but a human command that has been memorized.
Isaiah 29:13-16 | Matthew 15:1-10
Reading through Isaiah during Advent: Isaiah 29-30
God isn’t messing around with his judgement here in Isaiah 29. God is Fed. Up.
Jesus later had similar feelings about religious calcification. And he makes it clear.
Those with ears to hear, listen up. But take heart, God’s judgement is not without hope.
Isaiah 29:13-14
The Lord says:
Since these people turn toward me with their mouths,
and honor me with lip service
while their heart is distant from me,
and their fear of me is just a human command that has been memorized,
I will go on doing amazing things to these people,
shocking and startling things.
The wisdom of their wise will perish,
and the discernment of their discerning will be hidden.
Doom to those who hide their plan deep, away from the Lord,
whose deeds are in the dark,
who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
You have everything backward!
Should the potter be thought of as clay?
Should what is made say of its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
Should what is shaped say of the one who shaped it,
“He doesn’t understand”?
Matthew 15:1-10
Then Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why are your disciples breaking the elders’ rules handed down to us? They don’t ritually purify their hands by washing before they eat.”
Jesus replied, “Why do you break the command of God by keeping the rules handed down to you? For God said, Honor your father and your mother, and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death. But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you I’m giving to God as a gift,”then you don’t have to honor your father.’ So you do away with God’s Law for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you. Hypocrites! Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you, This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.”
Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.”
Prayer
God,
I remember learning as a child: “Garbage in, garbage out.” It seemed to make sense. Actually, it still makes sense. But it doesn’t match with what Jesus said about things going into and coming out of the mouth.
I’d like to think I’m strong enough to let just anything into my life without it affecting what I say or do; to be so unaffected by such things that my life would be a constant, steady flow of righteousness. Perhaps I need more faith in the work of your spirit in my life. Actually, I’m sure of that.
But I’m not always that strong, Lord. Sometimes the things of life, the circumstances around me, the influences of culture and more…they do affect me.
So help me, God: Give me faith in your spirit at work in me. And give me all the more confidence that I can, with your help, live into and up to the person of Jesus.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.