v 6. Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Once again Jesus strikes at the core of the social religion practiced by many Jews at that time. They offered sacrifices in the Temple, supported their local synagogues, put money in the offering chests and doubtless joined in the reading of the Law and Psalms. And that was all; their religion had no bearing on the way they lived their daily lives, on how they conducted business, and how they treated other people. It was all so superficial and apparently correct.
To us that seems so strange; our faith has everything to do with daily living. Faith and life are connected; our conduct springs from a belief that God cares about the way we do things 24/7.
Yet today this compartmentalised religion is still around us. Church and Christianity sit neatly in a box only to be opened on a Sunday.
The Lord looks at the heart and the daily motivation it gives to life.
Lord, help me to be connected person with faith and daily life indissolubly linked so that my life reflects your life and purposes.
AMEN.