Voice: Hambali
Today is Tuesday, 9th of September. Let us gather our scattered thoughts and be still in His presence.
Psalms 103: 1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.
Mark 7: 1-8
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Matters of the Heart
By this point in Mark’s Gospel, the disciples had already been criticised twice for failing to keep the oral law. They had not fasted (2:18) and they had not observed the Sabbath in the way the Pharisees demanded (2:24). Now they were accused again—this time for eating with unwashed hands.
“Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders?” they asked Jesus.
Jesus answered by standing with the prophet Isaiah:
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
Later, in private, Jesus explained further to His disciples (vv. 17–22): the heart is the seedbed of all evil actions. What defiles a person is not dirt from outside but corruption from within.
We know today how important it is to wash our hands. From ancient times, even in Jewish tradition, there was practical wisdom in such practices. Jesus was not against cleanliness. His challenge was directed at the Pharisees’ obsession with external holiness—clean hands, clean pots, clean rituals—while neglecting the state of the heart.
The word “heart” (Greek kardia) does not mean the physical blood-pump in us. In Malay, the word hati is often used, which literally means “liver,” yet carries the same sense: the inner self, the core of who we are, the seat of will, desire, and thought. It is the “real you” and the “real me.”
We may wash our hands till they shine. We may polish our pots until they sparkle. We may even go to church regularly, attend Cell meetings, and study the Bible faithfully. But if discipleship never reaches the heart, we have missed the whole point.
The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said:
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.”
Indeed, the human heart is the fountainhead of all corruption. And it is our hearts that our Lord came to reach and transform.
So the Psalmist prayed:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart…” (Psalm 139:23).
Brothers and sisters, let this be our constant prayer. For we often do not even know our own hearts, so deceptive they can be (Jer. 17:9). Let us keep our hearts soft, humble, and broken before God (Ps. 51:17).
Because in the end, it is not clean hands that will save us—it is a cleansed heart.
We close with this Collect:
O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night
and turns the shadow of death into the morning:
Drive far from us all wrong desires,
incline our hearts to keep your law,
and guide our feet into the way of peace;
that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day,
we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
Be blessed by this song, O God, You Search Me
O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down, you are before me,
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.
You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
and with love everlasting you besiege me:
In every moment of life or death, you are.
Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
you have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future too.
Although your Spirit is upon me,
still I search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.
For you created me and shaped me,
gave me life within my mother’s womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.
Daily Devotion 
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