Got an umbrella?

Jesus, help me decide which is more uncomfortable: carrying an umbrella or getting rained on! Amen.

Some people saw that Jesus' followers were breaking a law by not washing their hands before eating. "Why not obey the law?" the people asked. Jesus answered, "You've made laws out of habits. Those laws didn't come from God." Having dirty hands wouldn't hurt, Jesus added: "What hurts people doesn't come from the outside, but from inside their hearts, where they sin."

Did your back-to-school shopping include buying an umbrella? Lots of parents worry about their kids getting caught in a rainstorm, but most kids don't care. You'd rather pull up the hood of your sweatshirt or get wet than carry an umbrella around all day!

Parents and kids often have different opinions on things like that. They aren't the only ones: In this week's Gospel (Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23), Jesus has a different opinion than all the people who make laws in His area.

Some parents worry that getting caught in a rainstorm means you'll get sick. That probably won't happen, but they do have a point that it's not fun to sit around in wet clothes. In a way, you're both right.

That's pretty much what Jesus says in the Gospel story, too: He understands that it's good to wash your hands before eating; He just says it's silly to make a law about that. People can decide for themselves whether to wash up, without going to jail for it!

The real problem with getting drenched in the rain is that it's gross and uncomfortable. To Jesus, the real problem was that people were paying too much attention to things like hand-washing, and not enough to what was really gross and uncomfortable: sinning.

Hurting yourself or others is a lot worse than not washing your hands!