The Conception of the Honourable and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
Read
Galatians 4:28-5:10; Mark 6:54-7:8
“This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
A modern translation of this line is one that we sometimes hear concerning politicians and the promises they make in election campaigns: “You know how I know that he is lying? His lips are moving.”
Christ, rebuking the Pharisees, and our distrust of political promises are examples of times when there exists a disconnect between exterior words/actions and interior motives. In our Christian life, this can be a common occurrence of saying good things about or to someone but harbouring evil thoughts about them within our hearts. It can occur in the Sacrament of Confession where we tell the priest we have confessed all the sins we remember, but we actually keep one or more unconfessed because of shame.
Our Lord can read our hearts and while paying lip service to friends and family may work for a time, it does not work with our Lord. His desire is for us to not only honour Him with our lips but also with our heart and our whole body and being.