To me it feels like the next words Jesus speaks are ‘Don’t listen to them, they don’t know the truth, this is the truth.  Your goodness, or your badness isn’t reliant on what happens outside your body or what you put into your body, it is what is in your heart’.

There are a great number of rules for Jews to observe.  What you could eat, how and when you prepared it, how you bathed, who you could hang out with, who could go to the temple The rules implied that eternal life depended on following ALL of them. Jesus caused all kinds of ruckus by not heeding them at times.

Do we get caught up by all the external rules?

It can be easier to have the outside looking spick and span, but the inside can be a shemozzle.  Getting the outside in order is all about activity, looking busy doing things, but sorting out the inside needs us to sit still.  Listen.  When the outside is in order, others can see and compliment us, telling us how well we have done, but the internal work is all about ourselves and God.

How about sitting still today and having a look around our heart?  Are there some dark corners that need the light to shine in?  Is there a sunny little patch that needs room to grow?  Take some time. Be still.  Listen.

by Katherine Gilmore