[From the Original Verson]

With eyes of hawks, the Pharisees confront Jesus. They find him not washing their hands before eating. Jesus confronts them with Isaiah 29:13. If there is anything that God abhorred in the Old Testament, it was making a display of fervor from the outside, with nothing but frigidity within.

An instruction of Jesus follows, lest the Pharisees tempt the crowd to be impressed by their outer show. What defiles, is what comes out of a person, not what goes in. The outer is the reflection of the inner. If your heart is right with the Lord, it will mirror the divine presence; if it is not, your face will reflect only the sordid world. Do you mirror the Lord?

[From the version for young people]

Did you ever walk around with your shirt or blouse inside out and you didn’t know it?  There’s not that much difference, but then someone notices the seams around the shoulders and the tag hanging outside behind your neck.  Then again you might deliberately wear your clothes inside out as a joke.  The pockets hang like bags on the outside…the threads showing in all the seams–rather funny![from

In God’s world of the Spirit, “inside out” is the way to go!  All the inner goodness that God has made within you is meant to be shown outwardly–not as though you are bragging, but rather as an inner shining of God’s goodness ad love.  It as though your own body lets the inner light of God shine through you.  

I remember as a child learning that “The eyes are the window of the soul.” Your eyes, your smile…just a few of the ways that you can send waves of peace and love to others.  Together with loving acts of kindness: these are the ways that God inside you is shared outside. 

Mark 7:1–8,14–15,21–3

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year B, we read from the Gospel of Mark