Traditoins to Die For

Recap

Jesus has been working primarily in the area of Galilee as he’s traveled around spreading the news of this coming kingdom and healing the afflicted. He’s had a few run ins with some religious leaders but this is the first time in Matthews account where the author specifically states that these Pharisees came from Jerusalem.

Tonight we will see Jesus confronted about traditions, specifically the traditions of the Elders. As we’ve discussed before when the religious leaders of Jesus day came to carry out the law, obedience to it, they were not just following the Mosaic Law itself. They were also adhering to the Talmud and Mishnah. These were oral laws that were written down in addition to what God wrote down. They were and are “man’s” attempt at defining God’s law in every possible situation.

If you remember back to the passage that talked about the disciples harvesting grain to eat on the sabbath and the ridiculous description of what a person could carry on the sabbath or how far someone could walk on the sabbath, this is one of those kinds of traditions or oral added laws.

Traditions

How many of you, especially this time of year, have traditions that would make it seem like it wasn’t Christmas with out that one tradition? Raise your hand! I don’t have time tonight to go through everyone’s traditions, but needless to say, Johanna and I had our own traditions when we got married.

White lights vs. colored lights.

No crazy ornaments on the tree, everything had to be red, apples, poinsettias, cranberry garlands, that kind of theme. I was way more of a baby when it came to me not getting my traditions fulfilled than Johanna was.

We have a tradition in the fact that we celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25th, which really isn’t his birthday. It’s believed that He was born in the spring time according to most scholars.

As we go through our lives as Christians, it’s so important that we adhere to the truth of God’s word and don’t let any tradition, especially any tradition that might cause us to go against the truth of scripture, super seed the very word of God!

Matthew 15:1–2 ESV

1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

The pharisees have sought Jesus out, traveled far to find out whats really going on with this Jesus guy! The tradition that they site is the tradition of ceremonial hand washing before one eats a meal. The washing of hands before and after a meal was not mentioned outside the temple until it was written in the Mishnah. Before that ceremonial washings had more to do with uncleanness mainly in regards to Consecration, cleansing, washing clothes, bathing, purification, and so on. All of which had to do with dealing with uncleanness. Again, when it comes to washing hands, the old testament only speaks of it in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

Exodus 30:17–21 ESV

17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, 19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

Commands of God

Clearly this was meant to be for the priests in the temple.

Lets look at what Jesus reply is.

Matthew 15:3–6 ESV

3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

Jesus answers the accusation with one of his own. Jesus accuses the Pharisees of using a tradition to make void the word of God.

In that culture there was the tradition of claiming that something was “given to God”. It could be property, wealth, whatever it was, it would have been used to provide for the needs of your parents as they got older. Honoring your father and mother is demonstrated, in one way, in taking care of them financially, to be able to provide for their needs after they are to a point where they couldn’t provide for themselves. All these hypocrites had to do was claim that their funds were tied up and “given to God, and wait it out and even “get those funds back” without having to give them to the Lord in the end. So, they would cheat God out of their “donation” and refuse to take care of their parents, refuse to honor, their parents in the process.

People think it’s okay to twist scripture to fit their needs, or add to it for that matter. Look at what the old testament says about not honoring your father and mother.

Leviticus 20:9 ESV

9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

or this one in Proverbs

Proverbs 30:17 ESV

17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

It looks to me like the Lord takes honoring our fathers and mothers very seriously. The hard part is when they aren’t honorable. The quick and easy answer for that is, you still honor them. Scripture doesn’t say, honor them if they deserve it. It says, honor them…period! IT’s the only one of the 10 commandments that comes with a promise. The point is, the Pharisees knew this command yet they held onto a tradition written by humans and NOT inspired by God and “made void the word of God” in the process.

They didn’t make it void officially, they just made it void in their own lives and chose to walk in disobedience.

The Rebuke

Matthew 15:7–9 ESV

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Here Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29. A passage these scribes would have known very well.

Well did Isaiah prophesy of YOU: They honor me with their words but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain by holding the teachings and doctrines of MAN as higher, as commandments!

Look what Isaiah continues to say.

Isaiah 29:13–16 ESV

13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14 therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” 15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

God will not be mocked. These men are just one example of a major problem in humanity. We can tend sometimes to hold more faithful to our own human traditions than the truth of scripture. Denominations what to manipulate church goers into believing things like, you have to be baptised to truly be saved, even baptized in that denomination’s church otherwise it’s not valid. The catholic church is full of traditions that have nothing in scripture to back them up. Praying to Mary. Priests who aren’t allowed to get married. Holy water. The list goes on and on. We have the tradition of meeting for church worship services on Sunday because the Lord rose from the grave on Sunday. There are even passages that talk about people worshiping on the “Lord’s Day” but just because it says someone did it, doesn’t mean it’s mandated by the Lord. Which is how we came to meet on week nights.

There is only one tradition that wee need to follow whole heartedly. The tradition spoken and written of in 2 Thessalonians 2:15

2 Thessalonians 2:15 ESV

15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

Paul is talking about the very letters and preaching that the apostles proclaimed in the years following Jesus resurrection and ascension. The word here for Tradition is the greek word “paradosis” which means “to give across” or “to give along” from one generation to the next.

1 Corinthians 15:1–3 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

2 Peter 1:16–21 ESV

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is confronting the Pharisees with the fact that they have walked away from treasuring the very word of God and traded it for worshiping their own traditions. Essentially, they were more concerned with what was on the outside instead of what was on the inside. Their heart.

Romans 2:28–29 ESV

28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Communion