Thoughts for the Day

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’

When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

l enjoy watching (or reading) cosy mysteries, a genre that is less gruesome than many like CSI or even Midsomer Murders. I don't enjoy waiting for the next victim as in some of Agatha Christie's books, where multiple people are attacked. On television programmes like 'Death in Paradise' there is usually one victim and five or six possible culprits, and 'locked room' scenarios or isolated jungle or mountain scenes of crime abound.

I enjoy trying to work out who the offender is, watching the interplay between the suspects, trying to sort out the truth from the lies, and getting to the answer before the end of the show. Sometimes I get it right deciding that one person is lying, but more often than not, the final denouement surprises me!

In today's passage Jesus continues the theme we looked at yesterday and declares that food that is eaten cannot defile (ie make a person impure) which goes against everything the Law of Moses teaches, (Leviticus 11), but what can defile a person is what is in a person's heart. We cannot tell if someone has evil thoughts or intentions, but we shall know them by their actions. As Hamlet in Shakespeare's great play says, "One may smile and smile, and be a villain". As Christians we need to work hard on our hidden faults so that our smiles are honest reflections of our thoughts and are shown faithfully in our actions.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You know what is in our hearts and minds.
You know how honest our words and expressions are.
You know how we can fool even ourselves.
You know our mixed motives.
May our best thoughts be reflected in our actions,
and may our smiles and words be truthful.
Amen.