What Makes People "Unclean"?
1 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked,
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"Why don't your disciples obey what the elders teach? Your disciples don't wash their hands before they eat!"
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Jesus replied, "And why don't you obey God's command? You would rather follow your own teachings!
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God said, 'Honor your father and mother.'(Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) He also said, 'If anyone calls down a curse on his father or mother, he will be put to death.'(Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9)
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But you allow people to say to their parents, 'Any help you might have received from us is a gift set apart for God.'
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So they do not need to honor their parents with their gift. You make the word of God useless in order to follow your own teachings.
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"You pretenders! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. He said,
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" 'These people honor me by what they say. But their hearts are far away from me.
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Their worship doesn't mean anything to me. They teach nothing but human rules.' " (Isaiah 29:13)