“These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are from me”
(Matthew 15:8, quoting from Isaiah).
Jesus was speaking to Pharisees here, who had found a way to not provide
for aging parents by declaring that what they would have given is ‘devoted
to God’. They had come up with a human tradition which trumped for them the
command to honour their father and mother.
When I read the gospels it is easy for me to pick up on the shortcomings of
the Pharisees, and to think that I am glad not to be one of them! They were
very devoted people, outwardly at least. They never missed a synagogue
Saturday, they tithed their income, they were particular about ceremonial
cleanliness and the Sabbath. Their devotion could not be questioned.
Yet Jesus says their hearts were far from God. Why is that? Because they
manipulated the commands for their own ends, they cherry-picked the
commands they followed, and they failed to love people which was actually
at the heart of the law. In another place Jesus says of them, “You are the
ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your
hearts” (Luke 16:15).
In reading of Jesus interaction with the Pharisees, I begin to see that,
unfortunately, I am not so unlike them. I can go through the motions of
spirituality without engaging my heart, I can make the right noises and say
the right things but then not actually do anything to live it out, I can
justify my actions or non-actions according to need. It is not so hard to
be a Pharisee.
The challenge for all of us is to cultivate our hearts. One way we do this
is the practice of confession. In confession we acknowledge that our lives
do not match up fully with the life of Jesus, that “we have sinned, in
thought, word, and deed”. That is not to put ourselves down, beat ourselves
up or batter our self-esteem, it is to simply acknowledge the truth. We so
easily love ourselves more than we love God.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
is us” (1 John 1:8). Self-deception is so easy. Confession is about trying
to honestly evaluate our hearts, our motivations, attitudes and actions
without trying to justify ourselves or excuse ourselves. We can do that
only if we are secure in God’s grace.
Jesus’ message to the Pharisees was that worship was as much about what
they did on a Monday as what they said on a Sunday (or in their case a
Saturday!). Faith and obedience cannot be separated. This is one of the
reasons we need each other. Other people can help unmask our self-
deceptions, in whatever their form. Confession is a corporate discipline as
much as an individual one.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me”
(Psalm 51:10).