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That Which Defiles
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to
Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples
break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their
hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of
God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor
your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father
or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if
anyone declares that what might have been used to help their
father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to
‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the
word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You
hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely
human rules.’ ”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and
understand. 11 What goes into your mouth does not defile
you, but what comes out of your mouth, that is what defiles
you.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you
know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father
has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave
them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind,
both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.
17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes
into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things
that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these
defile you. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony,
slander. 20 These are what defile you; but eating with
unwashed hands does not defile you.”
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of
Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came
to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!
My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came
to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying
out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help
me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s
bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. “Even the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great
faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed
from that very hour.
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee.
Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great
crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the
crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his
feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when
they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame
walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of
Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have
compassion for these people; they have already been with me
three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send
them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough
bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had
given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples,
and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were
satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven
basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The
number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women
and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got
into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
