As we now find ourselves in the season of Lent, many are choosing to "give something up" in order to live sacrificially as they prepare for Easter. Our Old Testament readings from Leviticus have been filled with rules and regulations and instructions on what makes a person clean or unclean. But in the New Testament reading today, Jesus says clearly that it's not what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but it's what comes out. If you eat only kosher foods, but spew hateful things from your lips, then you are unclean. If you eat bacon-enriched everything (which is not kosher), but speak in love, you are clean. Funny how the rules change. This sort of thing is what led to Jesus being killed. If you have chosen to fast and sacrifice during Lent, don't be legalistic and mean about it... do so out of a spirit of love and gratitude. If you really want to give something up for Lent, why don't you make it something that comes out of you that's not reflective of God's spirit? And don't just give it up for Lent... just give it up.
Readings: Leviticus 15:1-16:28; Mark 7:1-23; Psalm 40:11-17; Proverbs 10:13-14
