Monday, July 27

³⁴After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. ³⁵When the people there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him. ³⁶They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

¹Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, ²“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” ³He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ⁶he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

⁸“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,

⁹and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

¹⁰Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” ¹²Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” ¹³And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? ¹⁷Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”

²¹After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” ²³But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away because she keeps on crying out after us.” ²⁴So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and bowed down before him and said, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said. ²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.