Matthew 15:1-20

The scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem came to Jesus and asked, “Why do your disciples disregard the tradition of the elders and not wash their hands before they eat bread?”

But he answered and said to them, “Why do you disregard the commandment of God by your traditions? God commanded, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Whomever speaks disrespectful of his father or mother, let him die the proscribed death.’ But you say, ‘Whatever I might owe to my father or mother is a gift in their honor. Thus, I am free of their support.’ Thus, you have made the commandment of God non-applicable by your tradition.

“You hypocrites! Elijah judged you correctly when he prophesied of you, saying, ‘These people agree with me with their mouth and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching the commandments of men as doctrine.”

He called the crowds and said to them, “Hear, and understand: what goes into a person’s mouth doesn’t defile a man. Rather, its what comes out of his mouth that defiles him.”

Concerned, his disciples said to him, “Don’t you realize that what you said offended the Pharisees?”  And he answered, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.”

Then Peter said to him, “Explain that parable to us.”

And Jesus said, “Do you still not comprehend? Don’t you understand that whatever you put in your mouth goes into your stomach, and eventually is passed from the body? But those things which proceed out of the mouth, comes from the heart. That’s what defiles a man. Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies--those come from a man’s heart. These are the things which defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands defiles no one.

Mark 7:1-23

Then the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes who came from Jerusalem, came as a group to him. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled hands—that is with unwashed hands—they condemned them. This was because the Pharisees—and all the Judeans—won’t eat unless they wash their hands as directed by the traditions of the elders. When they come from the market, unless they wash their hands, they will not eat. They do lots of other things which have been handed down as well—the washing of cups, and pots, brass vessels, and tables.

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow the traditions of the elders, but rather, eat their bread with unwashed hands?”

He answered and said to them, “Well has Elijah prophesied about you hypocrites! As it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching the commandments of men as their doctrine.’ Setting aside the commandments of God,you keep the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups and other such things you do.”

And he said to them, “You completely reject the commandment of God, in order to keep your own traditions. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whomever speaks disrespectfully of his father or mother, let him die the proscribed death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, ‘It is Korban,’ that is, a gift devoted to God, he is free from supporting them with it. You let him not care for his father or mother, and make the word of God non-applicable by your traditions which you have handed down. You do other such things as well.”

And when he had gathered the people, he said to them, “Listen to me, every one of you, and understand! Nothing from outside a man that he eats can defile him. Rather, it is the things which come out of him that defile him. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

But, when he was back inside, away from the people, his disciples asked him to explain the parable. And he said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you realize that what enters someone from outside can’t defile him because it doesn’t enter his heart, but his stomach, to be excreted with everything he eats?

And he said, “What comes out of a man, is what makes him unclean, because out of the heart of men come evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, greediness, iniquities, deceit, lewdness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

John 6:22-7:1

The next day, those across the sea saw there had been no other boat there, except the one his disciples had taken, and that Jesus had not gone with them, but that they had left alone. However, there were other boats from Tiberius near where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had blessed it. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they hired passage and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, how did you get here?”

Jesus answered and said, “I tell you the truth, you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Don’ work for the food that nourishes temporarily, but for the food that gives eternal life—which the Son of man, whom God the Father sealed, will give to you.

Then said they to him, “What shall we do, so we can do the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.”

Then they said to him, “What sign will you show us, that when we see it, we’ll believe you? What signs do you do? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “This is the truth! I tell you that Moses did not give you the bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he that comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”

Then said they to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger and he that believes in me shall never thirst. However, as I’ve said, you’ve seen me, but you don’t believe. Everyone the Father gives me will come to me and those who come to me, I will never throw away, because I came down from heaven—not to do as I pleased, but to do the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that I lose nothing he has given me, but should raise it up again at the last day. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes on him, be given everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Judeans then murmured at him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus bar Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, ‘I came down from heaven?”

So, Jesus replied, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. No man can come to me, unless the Father who has sent me draw him. And, yes, I will raise him up at the last day. As it is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’

“Therefore, everyone who listens and has learned from the Father comes to me. None have seen the Father, except he who is of God—he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes on me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, but are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so a man may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eats this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

The Judeans, arguing among themselves, said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Then Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,you have no life in you. Whomever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, then dwells in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so the one that eats me lives life by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, unlike your fathers who ate manna, but are dead. He that eats this bread shall live forever.”

He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many of his followers, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can tolerate it?”

When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of man ascend to where he was at first? The spirit is what quickens; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you—they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who don’t really believe.” (Jesus knew from the beginning who were believers and who should betray him.) And he said, “Like I told you, no one can come unless the Father has enabled him.”

From that time, many of his followers left and no longer walked with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also leave?”

And Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered them, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a demon?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon—being one of the twelve—for he was the one that would betray him. After these things Jesus stayed in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea, because the Judeans sought to kill him.