Be Still And Know

Matthew 15.7-9 NLT Jesus said, ”You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” If you talk to non-Christians about their criticisms of the church, time and again they will point to hypocrisy as being the most off-putting factor. They see Christians saying one thing and then living completely differently and it gives Christianity a bad name. Jesus would have completely agreed with them. He was vitriolic in his condemnation of hypocrisy whenever he saw it. On this particular day the Pharisees and teachers of the law were criticising the disciples for not complying with the age-old regulations for ceremonial hand washing before meals. In response, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees had come up with a way of getting round people’s duty to honour their parents. Instead of giving something to their parents they were simply able to