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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus
from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the
elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God
for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’
and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you
say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father
or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’
with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You
hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:”
“‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human
rules.’”
Matthew 15:1-9
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had
come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating
food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all
the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding
to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not
eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the
washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus,
“Why don’t Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead
of eating their food with defiled hands?”
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about
you hypocrites; as it is written:”
“‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human
rules.’”
“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding
on to human traditions.”
And He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside
the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said,
‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother
is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might
have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then
you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify
the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many
things like that.”
Mark 7:1-15
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
There is a disturbing, problematic trend happening in the
modern day church.
What is it?
Essentially, churches have chosen to allow their doctrine
to assume more authority than the scriptures.
It’s true. Church polity in some of our largest
denominations has changed in a way that runs counter to the very word of God
itself. In fact, this very happening in a denomination affiliated church I was
once a member and leader in led my wife and me to make the difficult choice to
leave and move to a denomination and church that allows the Bible to be its
sole guide toward the things it does.
Now many people get angry at the very mention of this
subject but perhaps it’s something that needs to be discussed more than it is.
Jesus seemed to think it was an important topic as we see in the opening verses
of Matthew, Chapter 15, and Mark, Chapter 7. Since both passages are pretty
similar, let’s look again at Mark’s account.
The Pharisees and
some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around
Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled,
that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give
their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When
they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they
observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and
kettles.)
So the Pharisees
and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t Your disciples live according
to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled
hands?”
He replied, “Isaiah
was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:”
“‘These people
honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in
vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
“You have let go
of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
And He continued, “You
have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your
own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone
who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if
anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother
is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then you no longer let them do anything for
their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that
you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Mark 7:1-15
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the instigators of
conflict in this passage were the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They
always seemed ready and willing to try and stir things up with Jesus and this
occurrence was no different.
At the center of the initial debate was the matter of not
washing one’s hands before eating. As was their tradition established by the
elders, the Pharisees and teachers of the law ceremoniously washed their hands
before eating and they would never eat without first washing. Mark adds that
they also observed similar traditions, washing “cups, pitchers, and kettles”.
And so given the things they did by tradition, the Jewish
religious leaders went to Jesus and asked:
“Why don’t Your
disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their
food with defiled hands?”
Note that it wasn’t a rebuke by question concerning the
disciples breaking the words of scripture. Rather, it was a non-compliance with
customs followed by the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
We immediately get the sense that Jesus is in no mood to
play with the Jewish religious leaders who had to be tiresome with their
relentless attempts to discredit Him and His followers. Jesus gets right down
to the point He wants to make, that the Pharisees and teachers of the law had
something about themselves that Jesus couldn’t stand and so He called it like
it was saying:
“Isaiah was right
when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:”
“‘These people
honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in
vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
“You have let go
of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
The Pharisees and teachers of the law were more concerned
with upholding cultural mores that their elders had conjured up than they were
the very commands of God. Their regulations had assumed a greater place of
priority than the decrees and statutes their Lord had established. Doctrine had
trumped truth. And as the prophet Isaiah had predicted while speaking the very
words of God Himself, the Jewish religious authorities might have spoken the
name of God with their lips but their hearts were in a different place. He was
not the full object of their devotion and so their worship was in vain, their
focus in teaching being on their own formulated rules than the law God
established.
And just in case the Pharisees and teachers of the law
needed an example to support and reinforce Jesus’ reprimand, He was at the
ready to provide one. Look again at His words here:
“You have a fine
way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own
traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who
curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if
anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother
is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then you no longer let them do anything for
their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that
you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Here Jesus highlights yet another tradition that
transcended the very commandments God handed down to the Israelites before they
assumed custody of the Promised Land, decrees we know best as The Ten
Commandments. One of those commandments was to “Honor your father and mother”
and there were no caveats, no stipulations that might have made it okay for
someone to violate God’s command.
And yet, the Pharisees and teachers of the law had made a
caveat, creating their own tradition. Essentially, if someone had something
that they dedicated to God, then that thing could not be used to help either of
their parents, no matter how much the parents needed it. This despite the word
of God clearly saying one was to honor their father and mother, period. Jesus
called out the Jewish religious leaders for their sinfulness saying:
“…you nullify the
word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things
like that.”
Nullifying God’s word is not something He was going to
stand for and since Jesus and His Father were one, it should come as no
surprise that Jesus spoke with such condemnation and indignation toward the
challenge from the Jewish religious authorities.
Bring this forward to modern times and ask yourself what
Jesus thinks about the church today and the way so many denominations and
churches are putting their fabricated doctrines over the truth that is only
found in the word of God.
I believe in so many instances, we would hear Him repeat
the words of Isaiah, the very words of His Father saying:
“‘These people honor Me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely
human rules.’”
“You have let go
of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
It’s time to get the church back to basics. It’s time to
place the truth of God’s word at the place of authority it deserves, and that
is a place that will always transcend human dogma and tradition.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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