What defiles
Day 539, Sunday, Feb. 1
Mark 6:30 – 7:23
Today’s reading ends with a truth that is worth repeating—we know that because Jesus himself repeats it himself many times in slightly different form: We aren’t made evil by eating the wrong thing or by violating ritual laws, or really by any action. Our actions reveal evil that is inside of us.
In other places Jesus talks about people being judged by the fruit they produce. The meaning is the same: the sins we commit with our bodies are a reflection of the sin we allow to live within our hearts.
When we get to the letters of Paul, we’ll see him repeat that same teaching many times. In short, God judges who we are more than what we do, because what we do merely shows who we are.
The way Jesus puts it here is one of the clearest statements of this truth in scripture: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
-Rev. Mark Fleming
Sunday meditation
Psalms 72:8-20
May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.
For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. May grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. May the crops flourish like Lebanon and thrive like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun.
Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.
Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.
This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Prayer focus
Make us clean, Lord, from the inside out.