Beware Blind Guides

Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” 

Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-15)

“Follow the leader” is what we are usually told. They serve as our guides, or at least they are supposed to lead us away from pits – such as pits filled with fear, hate, racism, prejudice, envy, and selfishness. Those are deep and dark places causing blindness – the inability to see the truth and to be guided by it such as the first will be last and the last will be first.  Some say the last – such as the elderly who need care – are unimportant or are disposable.

Many of our “guides” are blind to injustice.  They are defiled because of what comes out of their mouths.  This is perhaps one of the most important sayings coming out of Jesus’ mouth.  Our government leaders should “hear and understand.”

Defiling words are mockery, racist remarks, gossip, and innuendo to name just a few disparaging, breath-fouling words, such as “I hate you” or “You are worthless.”  “Black lives don’t matter” is a statement that especially defiles the speaker who becomes pit-bound.

Defiling ourselves means God will uproot us.  We do it to ourselves.  It is self-inflicted alienation from our heavenly Father.  

Let’s all be Daniel Boones, not blind guides.   And when we need guidance, Jesus is our bloodhound keeping us on the hard-to-find, narrow footpath.  

Deacon David Pierce