Daily Devotional For Saturday, October 10, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional for today comes from the words of Jesus found in Matthew 15:1-20. Have you ever been so exhausted by life that you just wanted to crawl in a hole and hide from it? By Matthew 15:1-20 Jesus is exhausted from the toll of His ministry and the grief of losing His cousin John the Baptizer at the hand of King Herod. Grief if taxing. It is draining and it is overwhelming and we see this in the humanity of Jesus.
Another thing that was taxing and draining for Jesus was how the Jews and their leaders were all about following the traditions of their faith, going through the motions of their faith, and listening to His teaching without any life change. This is something most preachers understand. They preach the Word of God from the love of their heart to their people and it seems like it goes in one ear and out the other. It seems they are more interested in their buildings, their by-laws, and their budgets than they are in being the obedient body of Christ.
You want to see what really gets people worked up in church, then change the color of a wall or carpet, or sit in “their” seat of pew, or have a service go longer than usual. You’ll get a reaction. Now if they would only use the same or more energy and enthusiasm in worship and for their own discipleship. Most people in church get more excited watching their favorite sports teams than they do joining God’s team in praising Him.
This was Jesus’ criticism in our text today about the people of God in His day. He says this in verses 8-9: “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. (9) Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God” (NLT). Would Jesus say the same thing about our church today? Every church has its own traditions. For example, one of our is having people read Advent Devotionals and light the appropriate candle during our Christmas/Advent season.
Another tradition we have is at the end of every worship service we recite our Mission Statement as a church. It wasn’t that the Jews in Jesus’ day had traditions, it is not that we have them in our day, it is when they take precedence and priority over who and why we do them. Jesus was not saying that traditions are wrong because society needs them, and churches need them to hold themselves together. Traditions are another way to express the Word of God in and through our faith. Jesus was against the enthronement of traditions and the dethronement of the Word of God.
These people were ignoring the commandment to honor one’s parents. Jesus accused them of gagging the Word of God with their traditions when it came to honoring one’s parents (Matt. 15:3-7). Mark’s Gospel gives us specifically how they were gagging the Word of God. Look at Jesus’ words in Mark 7:11, “But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God’” (NASB). Corban? What is this? Croban was money pledged to the temple to be paid upon one’s death. There was nothing wrong with that because that is no different than someone in the church who includes money to go to their church from their will upon their death. New Testament scholar Douglas S. O’Donnell writes this about it:
“These funds, since they were set aside for “religious” purposes, could not be used or given to one’s parents in their hour of need. So here is what happened in Jesus’ day. If you wanted to get out of helping your parents in their old age, you could simply declare your goods “given to God.” The sanctified selfishness would be excusable: “Sorry, Mom and Dad, I’d love to help you out. But, you know, all this money I have is ‘Corban.’ I can use it for myself, but whatever is left is going to God. You understand” (Source: Douglas S. O’Donnell, Preach The Word, “Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth,” p. 421).
To Jesus, these Jews broke the law of love. They were not just breaking the 5th Commandment. They were breaking both tables of the Law – the love of God and the love of neighbor. To Jesus, the tradition of Corban in His day killed compassion. Jesus was not condemning the tradition of Corban, but their spiritual blindness in refusing to show compassion to their parents. They were making the tradition of Corban more authoritative than the Word of God, or the 5th Commandment in this case. The law of tradition had expelled the law of love in their hearts.
This is why Jesus gets to the heart of the matter in Matthew 15:10-11. The prophet Jeremiah says this about our hearts in Jeremiah 17:9, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (NLT). The human heart is diseased. We all suffer from spiritual heart disease. Our spiritual heart pumps evil through its arteries. We hate. We lust. We covet. We curse. We steal. This is why Jesus not only mentioned the 5th commandment here, but commandments 6-10 also (Matt. 15:3-6). New Testament scholar Emil Bruner puts it this way:
“The filth of the toilet is not so great as that of a human heart not yet cleansed” Bruner continues with this question: “… who thoroughly weighs this?” (Source: Source: Emil Bruner, The Churchbook: Matthew 13–28, p. 94).
What a great question. Jesus says, “If you really want to know what is in your heart, just look at what comes out of your mouth” How you talk to and about your spouse tells you (and everyone in earshot) about the quality of your marriage. The same is true of father-son, boss-employee, pastor-congregation relationships. The same is true of every relationship. The same is true of our relationship with God. Therefore, we all should take heed to Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:36-37. I close with the words of New Testament scholar Emil Bruner:
“How clean is your heart? It’s as clean as your tongue. And who of us has never sworn or gossiped or spoken in unholy anger or given unjust criticism or taken the name of the Lord our God in vain? Lay down your stone, O sinner. Cover your mouths, for we are a people with unclean lips. Yes, the world is full of dirty words. And it will take a lot more than the efforts of the EPA to clean it up. Our world is filthy, and the world’s “major pollutant” is words. Words are the great human impurity. Words are the toxin of today. Our bad words show our bad hearts” (Source: Emil Bruner, The Churchbook: Matthew 13–28, p. 94).
Reflection Assignment: How is your heart? Do you ever put anything ahead of your relationship to God and to others? How are the words that come out of your mouth? When you vulnerable to put the law of anything ahead of the law of love for God and others? When you attend a worship service, what level of energy, excitement and enthusiasm would the Lord give you? Is your worship just “lip service” or is your heart all in it?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 15:16-20, “Jesus said, ‘Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. (18) But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. (19) For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. (20) These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I need a powerwash and scrubbing of my heart. I am ashamed of what comes out of my mouth because it reveals what my heart is. My words towards my spouse and family only reveal what a sewer my heart is. I am ashamed that my attitude and actions in worship are at times nothing more than just going through the motions. Again, this reveals what is in my towards towards You. I love you Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly