Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Moses Presents the Privileges of the Covenant

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I’m teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you. ² Do not add or subtract a thing to what I’m commanding you. Observe the commands of the Lord your God.^[a]

⁶ Observe them carefully, because this will show your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of people who’ll listen to all these decrees. Then they’ll say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ ⁷ For what great nation has a god so near like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? ⁸ And what great nation has all the decrees and righteous ordinances like all this teaching that I’m giving you today? ⁹ Only guard yourselves carefully so you won’t forget the things that you saw and let them slip from your mind for the rest of your life. Tell them to your children and to your grandchildren.

A Davidic Psalm.

Welcomed into God’s Presence

¹⁷ Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights,^[a] in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In accordance with his will he made us his children by the word of truth, so that we might become the most important of his creatures.^[b]

¹⁹ You must understand this, my dear brothers. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. ²⁰ For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, rid yourselves of everything impure and every expression of wickedness, and with a gentle spirit welcome the word planted in you that can save your souls.

²² Keep on being obedient to^[c] the word, and not merely being hearers who deceive themselves. ²³ For if anyone hears the word but is not obedient to it, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror ²⁴ and studies himself carefully, and then goes off and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the one who looks at the perfect law of freedom and remains committed to it—thereby demonstrating that he is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of what that law^[d] requires—will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶ If anyone thinks that he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but instead deceives himself,^[e] his religion is worthless. ²⁷ A religion that is pure and stainless according to^[f] God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Jesus Challenges the Tradition of the Elders^(A)

7 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.^{[a] 2} They noticed that some of his disciples were eating^[b] with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (The Pharisees—and indeed all the Jewish people—don’t eat unless they wash their hands properly,^[c] following the tradition of their elders. ⁴ They don’t eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)^{[d] 5} So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus,^[e] “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat^[f] with unclean hands.”

⁶ He told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written,

⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

¹⁴ Then he called to the crowd again and told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean.

²¹ because it’s from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, slander,^[a] arrogance, and foolishness. ²³ All these things come from inside and make a person unclean.”