Mark 7:1-8

When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t washed them. (The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.) The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?” Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote, ‘These people show honor to me with words, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’ You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings.”