MaRk 7 1149
dreamgirl
After filling your jar at the well , someone tells you , “ Hurry ! Jesus is teaching !” You quickly leave the jar , sloshing water on the ground , and run to join the crowd that has gathered just as it always does when the teacher speaks . Maybe he ’ ll give a blind person her sight today , you think as you squeeze through a crowd of elbows and knees . There doesn ’ t seem to be any good thing this Jesus can ’ t do , and you want to be in the front to see . Just watching his kind eyes fills you with a sunny kind of hope . But there is nothing sunny about the scene you burst upon , and nothing kind about Jesus at this moment . “ Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites ,” he barks out . As you follow his angry gaze to the Pharisees , you know what “ hypocrites ” are . You ’ ve seen that one Pharisee with the longest tassels ever on his garments . Those tassels are supposed to remind him to obey God ’ s commandments , but you ’ ve seen his parents begging for food . He must be missing the “ Honor your father and your mother ” tassel . “ You have let go of the commands of God ,” Jesus shouts , “ and are holding on to human traditions .” Several people gasp . No one talks to these important Jews this way . But a look of distress wrinkles your forehead . Wow ! I wonder what traditions I ’ m holding on to that disagree with God ’ s commands . You hurry back to the well to fetch your jar for your mother , who is waiting for it .
MARK 7:1 – 13