Laptop Woes: A Sermon on Matthew 15:1-20

December 10, 2025

A sermon on Matt 15:1-20 given during Morning Prayer on December 10th.

Last week I experienced an event that many of us dread: my laptop had an (apparent) catastrophic failure. I was there, merrily watching a YouTube video, when suddenly, and without warning, the screen froze. It was entirely unresponsive. CTRL+ALT+DEL would not work. Nothing. Eventually I turned it off, but it didn't respond to any amount of cajoling for 24 hours.

We have come to depend on our technology and it is a scary thing when it fails!

Think of the joy of of opening a new laptop: everything runs so smoothly. Apps open at the click of a button. The boot-up speed feels like a nano-second.

Fast forward a few days, weeks, or months and we might tell a different story. We might find our laptop slowing down. Lagging. Maybe even a shadow of its former self. Now, I’m no tech expert, but I do know that unnecessary software, apps that I’ve installed, plug-ins and extensions—those things designed to improve my user experience!—eventually they can accumulate and become counter-productive. What was supposed to help now hinders.

***

This morning I invite you consider whether this might be a help way to thing about Matthew 15. In this chapter, Jesus exposes where the Pharisees and the scribes had created many ‘add-ons’ to faithful Torah observance. In fact, they had added in so many extras that Jesus accuses them of “making void the word of the LORD”. They had become hypocrites.

The first example of this that Jesus gives is how they have corrupted God’s command to honour and care for ones parents, Instead of directing people to follow God's instruction, the Pharisees and scribes ratified man-made oaths where people would devote their property and wealth to God. In doing so they were excused from their God-given obligation to honour and provide for their parents.

In the next breath—in the second half of the reading—Jesus takes aim at the Pharisees' man-made customs around ritual washing and, quite probably, food laws as well. Again, Jesus speaks plainly and pulls no punches. Those who endorse these human traditions are the "blind leading the blind." They are cultivating plants not made by God—therefore they are plants God will uproot (v.13).

***

So what's the solution to this religious hypocrisy? Jesus' answer is found in a wholly different place.

At the end of the reading Jesus draws attention back to what matters: the heart that drives our behaviour. Our insides. The centre of who we are. In v.19 he lists a number of actions—murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, and blasphemy—all of which come from that centre of our being. In saying this Jesus challenges them—and us—with the reality that real spiritual work is an inside job. It is found in addressing our anger, lust, envy, and pride. Not because the outside don’t matter, but actually because they do!

When the external religious customs of man get in the way of the work of God in our lives, gets in the way our obedience to Him, our obligation to those around us, then we are at risk not just of a sluggish spirituality, a slowdown in religious performance, but maybe even a catastrophic failure.

No amount of software add-ons or plug-ins will compensate for our defiled hearts. We are in need of new spiritual hardware. A RAM upgrade or new graphics card (I realise I'm stretching my metaphor thin). And that’s a work only God can do. But that’s exactly the work He wants to do. And exactly the work He has made possible in sending Jesus.

So today, as you head into class and as you head into the rest of Advent: what you more concerned with? Your user experience and religious add-ons and customs that you or your church or denomination are so proud of, but may be dragging down your spiriutal life? Or are you attending to the work God needs to do within you and the need for a spiritual hardware upgrade?

******

Photo by De an Sun on Unsplash

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By Suse McBay • April 14, 2026

A few weeks ago, I got to sit down via the wonders of the internet and have a catch-up with my friend and former colleague, Wayne Watson. We talked God, life, and the universe. And Winnie the Pooh! In Wayne's own words " What begins as lighthearted conversation between old friends quickly unfolds into a thoughtful and wide-ranging exploration of culture and the pursuit of God's truth. " It was fun. If you fancy a listen, check out the podcast (and the entire series) by clicking here ! ******

The Risk of Playing It Safe: Why the Bible We Don’t Preach Matters

By Suse McBay • April 8, 2026

***** I’ve long noticed that the Bible that gets preached from the Sunday pulpit can be, well, a bit picky. Some bits are kept in and preached. Others are studiously ignored. The result? Different churches can give quite a different sense of what the Bible's message is than if you actually read it through cover to cover. Now I don't mean to accuse any one wing of the church: whether your tradition uses the lectionary (usually a three-year cycle of curated readings) or jumps around the canon to whichever biblical book or theme is of interest, certain parts of the Scriptures are often ignored. Some passages are cut off halfway through; others are omitted entirely. I remember preaching on Independence Day in the US (the irony of doing so as a Brit was not lost on me). The reading for the day began in Deuteronomy 10:17: “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the stranger, providing them food and clothing…” Sounds lovely, right? Well, yes—but Deuteronomy 10:17 starts in the middle of a paragraph. In the middle of divine instruction that God gives through Moses. We can see this in how it begins: for the LORD your God.. . It could also be translated because the LORD your God … This passage is the explanation for something. It is a why to a biblical command, not a standalone theological statement. So what’s the actual command? What’s the main message God wants the people to hear? The verse before (v.16) says this: “Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.” The purpose of this speech? To call God’s people to repentance. To change. The ‘heart’ in biblical texts usually refers to one’s innermost self. The seat of who you are in the deepest places of your will and desire. God has said he wants their obedience (v.12), he has reminded them of his extraordinary generosity in choosing them as his people (vv.13–15), but here God lands a punch: The centremost part of who you are, God says, needs to be clipped. Reading vv.17–22 feels quite different in light of the whole text. It’s not a statement of a good God whom we should simply ‘fear’ and ‘hold fast to’ (v.20). It’s far more rooted and real than that. In reading through all ten verses, we get a sense of a people who have become too big for their boots. Who have forgotten that it’s not because they have anything to offer that God chose them, but rather because of the graciousness of God. And we get a clear call from God that such people need to, in essence, sort themselves out. Be humbled. Circumcise their hearts. I don’t believe the Sunday lectionary was formed with a conspiratorial agenda to omit the hard stuff (the whole thing would largely be read through in the daily lectionary for the Daily Office). But I do believe it’s spiritually dangerous for us to ignore the material that is left on the cutting room floor in our preaching. The people of God are called to grow into the fullness of the gospel—to become mature Christians. If we only ever swim in the protected waters of the lectionary, we will not be confronted by the reality of a God who regularly and reliably calls his people to humble themselves, care for those in need, and live lives of sacrificial love. Who makes space within their communities for the vulnerable. Who looks out for the marginalised among us. Who deals with the darkest and ugliest of human evil. Who redeems out of family lines and dynasties most of us would give up on. In recent years, there has been increasing focus on the importance of the gut–brain connection. How what you eat shapes who you are, and how you function mentally, emotionally, and physically. What we fuel ourselves with matters. The same is true spiritually. The Bible is the spiritual equivalent of a Whole30. Or a wholemeal, organic, seed-infused sourdough loaf. It’s nutritious and gritty. It requires some chewing. It’s not always easy to digest. But it provides the minerals and nutrients we need. It may take some adjustment, but it may also be just what the doctor ordered. Not for our physical sicknesses, but rather our more pernicious spiritual malaise. ******