Matthew 15:1-11 (NIV)

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules. ’[c] ”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Reflection:

There are times that we may want to get away from family or even reject family - subtly or overtly. There are many reasons why we would want to not help or be with family, and some of these reasons may even be ‘good.’ But one can never use ‘God’ as an excuse to hurt or deprive family of the love that God has for them. Interacting with family and trying to love them can get pretty difficult at times, even religious in our struggles, but God’s love will always become clear to us and empower us to relate with family His way.

Responding to the Transmission:

Let’s thank God for His love in our lives and let’s spend time in prayer asking our Father to fill us with His love and wisdom today to see and to relate to family according to His ways and heart.