A Morning Cup of Tea: Teachings of Man or God?

Good morning! Today we begin chapter 7 of Mark. The Pharisees are there once again, and they are horrified to know that the disciples eat without washing their hands. Now, for health and sanitation reasons, we know it's a good thing to wash your hands often, and the Jews rarely ate without washing their hands often during that time.
 3. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
  Did you catch what Mark said there? They held to the "tradition of the elders". While it was a good practice, it wasn't God's law that they were holding to. Somehow tradition started taking the place of God's law, and not with God's authority. Jesus had quite a bit to say about that in verses 6 through 16. I hope you read it for yourself, because he says it so much better than I can paraphrase it.  
 6.He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesided of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me.
7. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
  Jesus went on to confront them about the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother. That means taking care of them as they age, financially, physically, and respecting them always. But their tradition held that if you gave them a financial gift (I'm guessing it would be fairly substantial) then you're off the hook! No more saying Yes Ma'am and No sir; no more suffering through dinner hour at their house, listening to the litany of health problems they now face, not having to go and mow the lawn for them because they are no longer capable of doing it themselves.  I have a sneaking suspicion that this type of thing goes on just the same today, although in modern standards its called "letting someone else care for them because I'm too busy". But that's a lesson for another day. 
 Jesus finishes up this line of thought in verses 15 and 16:
 15. There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
 16. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.  

A Morning Cup of Tea : What Makes Us Unclean?

  Matthew 15: 1-20
The pharisees loved their traditions very much. As we will see in today's reading, they tended to put their traditions on par with if not higher than the law. The scribes and pharisees had to come to Jesus yet again, this time, to ask why Jesus' disciples didn't wash their hands before eating.
  They asked, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? (v2)
 3. But he answered and said unto them,  Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4. For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6. And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
  In other words, the pharisees were fine with someone giving money to their parents and having no respect for them at all. Even then it seems that man thought throwing money at a person or a situation would solve problems. Some things never change. 
  Jesus warned them about giving lip service to worship and having nothing come from the heart. 
 8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9.  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.
 It is very important to know what God says. The ONLY way to know is to read His Word for yourself. 
  Jesus went on to tell the people, come here and listen: Understand what I am telling you here (paraphrase of  v 10)
11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth  a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 
 The disciples were worried that Jesus had offended the pharisees. Jesus told them to let the pharisees alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both fall.  So again,(my thoughts now) be careful who your spiritual leaders are. Know for yourself what the bible says. And I would be wary of anyone who encourages you not to read the bible. There are people out there who know the less you know of God's Word the more they can lead you astray. And most of them will seem so sincere. When Jesus was tempted of the devil in chapter four, he continually rebuked satan saying, "It is written, it is written." and quoted scripture. 
  Peter asked what Jesus meant by saying its not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man.
  Jesus explained that what goes into the mouth goes into the belly and is taken care of the natural way. But what comes out of the mouth (words) comes from the heart. What comes from the heart can defile us.
 19.For out of the heart proceed  evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
 20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.