Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do
your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For
God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother
is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to
help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’
with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah
was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.What goes into someone’s
mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the
Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the
roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Matthew 15:1-14 (NIV)
T
he Pharisees and Scribes once came
to Jesus wanting to know why His
disciples ate with unwashed hands.
They came seeking knowledge, or
so it seemed, but when Jesus tried to teach
them, they got offended and refused to learn
because, in teaching them, He challenged
their hypocritical behaviour. When Jesus’
disciples pointed out that these religious
leaders were offended Jesus answered, “Let
them alone: they be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall into the ditch.” Thus, He dismissed
this group of leaders.
The lesson here is this; leaders who
lack knowledge are blind, and if they refuse
to learn what they do not know, they will
remain blind. Such leaders will be dismissed
and not reckoned with as they can go
nowhere except the pit. Those who follow
them are like them and will also end in the
pit.
Prayer: Father, give me a meek heart
and a teachable spirit that I may learn.
Eturuvie (AKA Gabriella) Erebor is a writer,
public speaker, trainer, coach and the Founder
of DOZ Network.
www.himpowermagazine.com 35