(Text and Audio)
Title: Truth Vs. Tradition
Most “fun” I’ve ever had writing a sermon.
“Scribes” experts in the Jewish Law (Lawyers)
“Pharisees” the most prominent spiritual and political party of the Jews
“from Jerusalem” These men were not from Gennesaret, they had traveled a great distance (about 100 miles, no small distance in those days) to observe and confront Jesus, His teaching, and His ministry
The Question: “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread?”
The Source of the Question: This “tradition of the elders” was the oral law which was seen as equal with the written Law by the scribes and Pharisees. Today these oral laws are known as the Mishnah. One of these laws was about the proper method of hand washing before a meal such as how much water to use, how many rinses are necessary, etc.
POINT: This oral tradition (Mishnah) WAS NOT part of the Mosaic Law given in the Pentateuch. “Mishnah” means “second reading” and was the analysis of the Written Law by Rabbis and Scribes who then added to the rules and requirements laid out in the Law of Moses from about 50 years before Jesus’s birth until about 200 A.D.
Jesus’s Response: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?”
In other words: Jesus ignores their question and rebukes them for making their traditions not only equal to, but superior to, His Father’s Law which was given to Moses.
Side Note: There are so many applications and parallels on this rebuke for churches today that I could literally spend the next 4 Sundays on how Churches are still guilty of this today. But I will be kind, and concise.
What I will offer this morning are my observations on how this very same mentality can and often does effect churches and denominations like our own so that we can avoid this wretched sin.
But first, we must continue our analysis of the text.
Jesus’s example of their sin: For God commanded saying ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘He who curses his father or mother, let him be put to death.’ (Deut. 5:16, Ex. 21:17-Law of Moses)
But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”-then he need not honor his father of mother.’ (Oral tradition-Mishnah)
This last part can be a bit confusing so let me offer a few translation variances to hopefully clear up what the Mishnah is saying.
NIV: But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God.’
ESV: But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God.”
NASB: “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God.’”
Essentially the rebuke is that Jesus points out that one of the rules of the oral tradition was that it was better to give money to God than to help ones parents. I think if we consider Jesus’s rebuke in light of Matthew 25:45 “In as much as you have not done it unto the least of these, you have also not done it unto me.” We clearly see Jesus’s point: Because honoring one’s mother and father is already part of God’s Law then supporting or helping one’s parents IS giving to God because helping one’s parents IS God’s plan and His work.
Jesus’s Conclusion: Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect, by your tradition.
This concluding statement is where I want to spend the last part of our time together this morning. Simply put, we cannot be people, or be part of a group of Christians that puts our traditions above the commandments of God.
And we often cleverly disguise what is our tradition, what is our preference, what is our conviction AS the word of God. This is sin.
Now, to be clear, am I saying that traditions are wrong? Not necessarily.
Am I saying that personal convictions are wrong? Not necessarily.
Am I saying that personal preferences are wrong? Not necessarily.
Then what am I saying?
- The Laws of Scripture are the ONLY binding authority in our lives.
- Any conviction, tradition, or preference that we may have must be
- CLEARLY based on scripture
- WILLING to be debated
- UNDERSTOOD as non-binding
As we close this morning, let me give you 3 examples of places where we, as Conservative Evangelical Christians, still often get these concepts wrong.
- Personal Convictions become a “Law” for judgment unto others
- Christian Workplace Covenants
- Church Covenants
Others?
Close:
Finally, this morning, let me say this: I know many of you have heard me talk about how vehemently I protest against Church Covenants. That is not just because I think they are potentially divisive and damaging. It is also because when we learn to fall back on covenants, because we have created them, we stop discussing and debating scripture. When that happens we stop dialoguing with God, and instead just talk with each other, and how foolish is that?
If we stop discussing, if we stop debating, we stop learning, we stop growing, and we become Pharisaic. We become the very thing that Jesus is rebuking here, for the very same reasons. Let it never be so.