Book of Common Prayer

The first exodus

10 I don’t want you to be ignorant, my brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank, you see, from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Messiah. ⁵ But God wasn’t pleased with most of them, as you can tell by the fact that he laid them low in the desert.

Don’t make the same mistake again!

⁶ Now these things were patterns for us, so that we should not start to crave for wicked things as they did. ⁷ Nor should we commit idolatry, as some of them did—as the Bible says, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.” ⁸ Nor should we become immoral, like some of them became immoral, and twenty-three thousand fell on a single day. ⁹ Nor should we put the Messiah to the test, as some of them put him to the test, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰ Nor should we grumble, as some of them grumbled and were destroyed by the destroyer.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them as a pattern, and they were written for our instruction, since it’s upon us that the ends of the ages have now come. ¹² As a result, anyone who reckons they are standing upright should watch out in case they fall over. ¹³ Every test that comes upon you is normal for human beings. But God is faithful: he won’t let you be tested beyond your ability. Along with the testing, he will provide the way of escape, so that you can bear it.

God’s law and human tradition

7 The Pharisees gathered round Jesus, together with some legal experts from Jerusalem. ² They saw that some of his disciples were eating their food with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands.

³ (The Pharisees, you see—and indeed all the Jews—don’t eat unless they first carefully wash their hands. This is to maintain the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come in from the market, they never eat without washing. There are many other traditions which they observe: washings of cups, pots and bronze dishes.)

⁵ Anyway, the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat their food with unwashed hands?”

⁶ “Isaiah summed you up just right,” Jesus replied. “What hypocrites you are! What he said was this:

⁸ “You abandon God’s commands, and keep human tradition!

⁹ “So,” he went on, “you have a fine way of setting aside God’s command so as to maintain your tradition. ¹⁰ Here’s an example: Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who slanders father or mother should die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If someone says to their father or mother, “What you might get from me—it’s Korban!” ’ (which means, ‘given-to-God’), ¹² you don’t let them do anything else for their father or mother! ¹³ The net result is that you invalidate God’s word through this tradition which you hand on. And there are lots more things like that which you do.”

Clean and unclean

¹⁴ Jesus summoned the crowd again.

“Listen to me, all of you,” he said, “and get this straight. ¹⁵ What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out from inside.”

¹⁷ When they got back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸ “You didn’t get it either?” he asked. “Don’t you see that whatever goes into someone from outside can’t make them unclean? ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into the heart; it only goes into the stomach, and then carries on, out down the drain.” (Result: all foods are clean.)

²⁰ “What makes someone unclean,” he went on, “is what comes out of them. ²¹ Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. ²³ These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.”