Traditions and Technicalities

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-9 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

1 Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” 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. 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.’” (Matthew 15:1–9 NLT)

Jesus’ growing popularity was stirring enough interest and concern among the Jews that a delegation of Pharisees and religion teachers made the 6-day, 125-mile round trip journey from Jerusalem to Capernaum to interview Jesus. (It was an extra day and an extra 20+ miles each way for the Pharisees because they wouldn’t travel through Samaria!)

Their lead-off question: “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands in the ritual manner before eating?” Jesus’ response: “Why do you put your ritual traditions above the moral commands of God? God says, ‘Honor your father and mother.’ You’ve created a loophole that allows selfish people to tell their needy father and mother, ‘Sorry, I’m giving to the church, so you’re out of luck!’” (Head or heart, rules or relationship, legalism or love.)

The Pharisees and religious teachers were relentless in challenging Jesus and his disciples over what seem to be such petty issues! They were so blinded by technicalities and tradition that they couldn’t see that being compassionate and doing good are more important than ritual rule-keeping! That leads me to examine my own attitudes and actions to see if I’m hiding behind traditions and technicalities to avoid getting my hands dirty with real people’s real needs. How about you?

Prayer:

Father, Please help my friends and me not to be blinded by traditions and unable to see truth. Help us to always put truth before tradition and people you love before religious practices we’ve developed. Help us to learn to think and live the Jesus Way!