SIDE A SIDE B: Check Your Heart

Notes and reflections on the second talk of the “Side A Side B” preaching series at the Feast Valle Verde April 18, 2021

Like going through an ECG, our talk topic helps us see through our hearts’ ups and downs in order to reveal what needs to be repaired or restored in it.

Matthew 15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

During his time, Jesus and his disciples are notorious for not always following all the 613 commandments written within the Mosaic law. The Jewish leaders and authorities then get triggered every time because they were “obsessed” with all 613 of them. For one, they take handwashing seriously because they believe that lepers, bleeders and sinners are all equally unclean, and once touched, will render the other person ritually unclean, too. Hence, Jesus and his disciples always get called out for not washing their hands before they share their meals.

This Sunday, our session teaches us that the problem in this scenario is not in the implementation of the law per se, but on the Jewish leaders’ distorted priorities. They persecute both a thief and a person who fails to wash his hands with equal rigor. If for example, Nebu stole Sam’s sheep while Sam didn’t wash his hands, in the eyes of these religious leaders, both of them violated God’s law and deserved to be punished the same way. Their time was poisoned by the milieu of legalism.

If everything is important, then nothing is important. We like to major in minor things and eventually, forget the major things. We lose sight of what it’s all about. We become sensitive in these small slips, which in the bigger scheme of things, are no longer important.

The way we discern what’s important and not in all the rules and laws help us identify if we are spiritual or merely religious. While discipline in character may be developed in both approaches, ultimately, what’s most important is how we point everything and everyone around us back to God.

More than the practice of religious rituals, what we should really be guarding our hearts from are pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, anger and sloth-- the seven deadly sins, that form like cholesterols, eventually blocking our spiritual arteries from the flow of God’s mercy and love.

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Matthew 15:3-6, 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother, and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.

This verse depicts a scene where a parent is seeking financial assistance from his child but the child refuses to help because he has already set aside his money as offering to the house of God. It is clearly stated in the ten commandments that children shall honor their father and mother. And yes, consecrating one’s Qorban (sacrificial offering) to the temple is also written in the Mosaic law. But then again, to use Qorban as a reason for refusing to help your parents is a distortion of importance, and as previously mentioned, is a form of religious legalism.

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Matthew 15:7-9 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.

How do you check yourself if your worship is fake? Fake worship is this-- we sing praises but our hearts remain far away from him, we use the same lips to sing praises and yet the same lips are soiled with curses and foul-words.

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How do we check our hearts?

First: Check your words, because your words reveal your heart.

Matthew 15: 11, 17-18 says, 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth. 17 Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.

Check your words not just when you’re praying, but when you’re out there living. Be careful with the choice of our words. If we have no good words to say in a given situation, better not to speak at all. And if you ever find your lips soiled and your heart clogged with sins, that’s what the sacrament of confession is for!

Remember, “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.”

Hence, be vigilant with the words we hear and see. Never underestimate the power of words. Once internalized, they become a reality. You leak out whatever is inside you.

Second: Store the good.

Luke 6:45 A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Our hearts are not trash cans. We are God’s representatives, made with His own image and likeness. Our real identity is in Christ. Let us then feed our souls with God’s word, inspiring, loving and kind words from friends and loved ones. Undesirable words make us feel lonely and sick. Yet words of encouragement give us hope and joy. Accept constructive criticisms yet establish healthy boundaries. Ask the Holy Spirit to grant us His gifts as He helps us remove those feelings that are not from Him.

Finally: Guard your heart.

Proverbs 4:23 With closest custody, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

After storing all that is good in our hearts, protect it. As much as possible; hear, see and speak no evil. As a saying goes, wherever your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Let us not allow our hearts to be battered and bruised. Let Him restore the flow of His healing love into our lives.

As we have received our spiritual heart transplants, may we take care of it and strive to faithfully worship God in spirit and in truth. Let our hearts desires be deeply rooted to where it truly satisfies – to Jesus!

Ezekiel 36:26: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit. I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone… and give you a heart of flesh.