Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Israel Must Obey God

Moses said:

4 Israel, listen to these laws and teachings! If you obey them, you will live, and you will go in and take the land that the Lord is giving you. He is the God your ancestors worshiped, ^2 (A) and now he is your God. I am telling you everything he has commanded, so don't add anything or take anything away.

^5-8 (A) No other nation has laws that are as fair as the ones the Lord my God told me to give you. If you faithfully obey them when you enter the land, you will show other nations how wise you are. In fact, everyone that hears about your laws will say, “That great nation certainly is wise!” And what makes us greater than other nations? We have a God who is close to us and answers our prayers.

⁹ You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well.

(A psalm by David.)

Who May Worship the Lord?

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing. ¹⁸ He wanted us to be his own special people,^[a] and so he sent the true message to give us new birth.

Hearing and Obeying

^19 (A) My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry. ²⁰ If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things God wants done. ²¹ You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message planted in you to save you.

²² Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it. ²³ If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror ²⁴ and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. ²⁵ But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.

²⁶ If you think you are being religious, but can't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is useless. ²⁷ Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Matthew 15.1-9)

7 Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.^[a]

³ The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way^[b] before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.^[c]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

^6 (A) Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

⁸ You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught.

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Matthew 15.10-20)

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”^[a]

²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.