Tradition or freedom? Keeping tradition
is honorable and peaceable. For example, paying respect to the elderly is good
and desirable. But when it becomes involuntarily or forcefully mandatory it can
be deadly and detrimental. The law of God is good, but no one can keep up with
no matter how hard bidding. All turns out a mere trying. But there are many who
think that they can. The Pharisees are the ones who enforce the people to keep
the traditions and regulations of the elders. Thinking of themselves as
law-keepers (blinded and being ignorant by the outward appearances), they watch
over others vigilantly and guardedly. They are like religious secret police. Catching
up anyone in violation, they turn on the people, accusing them sternly and severely
and even threatening them to excommunicate. This no doubt shall cause hypocrisy
and coverup because they know from deep inside it is not working. The
Scriptures warn that it is hardening of the heart of man. It is enslavement to
the law. What is the remedy? How can man be free? The truth will set free. How do
we know the truth? Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
(John 8:31-32) So, we shall hold on to his words because they shed lights for
discernment and knowledge.
“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.’
Again Jesus called the crowd to him
and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a
person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a
person that defiles them.’
After he had left the crowd and
entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull’
he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can
defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and
then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
He went on: ‘What comes out of a
person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart,
that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed,
malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils
come from inside and defile a person.’” (Mark 7:1-23)
In this passage, Jesus reveals what
truly defiles man. The religious leaders believe that men and women in the nation
of Israel who don’t keep the law externally like washing hands shall be condemned.
That is what is going on here where the disciples of Jesus are found eating
without washing their hands according to the tradition. It doesn’t mean they
are not clean hygienically, but ceremonially. The Pharisees and the teachers of
the law hastily jump into conclusion that the disciples of Jesus are defiled according
to the traditions of the elders and thus shall receive the due punishment.
How does our Lord Jesus defend them? Jesus quotes the prophecy of Isaiah,
saying:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they
have been taught.” (Isaiah 29:13)
First, Jesus is telling the truth that
the religious leaders (the accusers) are merely holding the traditions of men
but letting go of the true commands of God. God sees that the Pharisees and the
scribes of the law are breaking the law, not the disciples. Jesus gives a
particular example of how they are breaking the law of God. They have invented a
smart way of letting go of the law in order not to honor their father and
mother. The law says, “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to
death.” It is a serious command.
However, they have implemented a
way of avoiding that command. If they declare whatever that might have used to
help their father and mother as Corban, they are no longer obligated to do
anything for their parents. In this clever and ingenious way, they nullify the
word of God by their tradition. This is a hard bid to escape from being guilty of
not honoring their father and mother.They do many other things just like that. So,
the verdict is that they are guilty as charged by the Lord. Although the poor
disciples are accused by the powerful men in the most religious society, Jesus doesn’t
say anything for the charge. God accepts them as they are, but rejects the
accusers. God knows our heart even before bringing offerings to him. God sees
our heart, not the outward appearance.
“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do
not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD
does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’" (1 Samuel 16:7)
Second, all food is clean. The strict
food diet was given to teach his people the spiritual principles and laws. Some
animals were classified as clean and others unclean. But it doesn’t mean an
unclean animal itself is unclean because everything was good when made in the
beginning. Ceremonial washing of hands doesn’t make food holy and acceptable. Nor
it defiles man. Food is for the body and goes into the stomach and out of the
body. The Lord in a vision appeared to Peter and told him not to call at all
unclean what God had made. Those animals in the sheet were unclean by the Law
of Moses.
“The voice spoke to him a second
time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’” (Acts 10:15)
Third, what defiles man is not
food, but things coming out of man like evil thoughts and sexual immorality. The
Lord Jesus says, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is
from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy,
slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a
person.” Who can escape from the invasion of evil thoughts within? No one, not even
one. In reality, humans are doomed and fallen, being unable to be set free from
all these evils. No matter how religiously determined and dedicated in keeping
the laws and traditions, it doesn’t work and never will. Even mature Christians
cannot live by the law, but only by grace. Apostle Paul so aptly describes this
truth in the Epistle to the Romans Chapter 7.
“I do not understand what I do. For
what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not
want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself
who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not
dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is
good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the
evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want
to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
(Romans 7:15-20)
Trying and bidding hard inevitably give
birth to hypocrisy and coverup. Many a people is duped and fooled by it. Those
who enforce the traditions and regulations don’t keep them at all, although
they think they are keeping in perfection. Far from the truth! Jesus says, “They
tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but
they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)
Because we cannot keep the commandments
of God, he sent his Son to bear our sins and transgressions on that cross.
Whoever believes in him shall be set free from the law requirements. This is a
new and living way to obey God’s commandments. Through the cross of Jesus we
obey the Lord. The cross is humiliation, pain, shame, and most of all death,
the end of self. It is the only way and the truth and the life. Jesus set the
example that he obeyed the Father to the point of death. Because without death,
no life. No cross, no resurrection. The flesh of the world is the bundle of evil
thoughts and wickedness. It doesn’t obey God, nor can. It must be dead and
buried.
It is why we died with Christ by faith, were buried with him by faith, and on the third day raised from the dead with Christ by faith. So, we the flesh no longer live but Christ in spirit does his eternal life (Galatians 2:20). We died to the law, the rigid and unbending requirements of the law in order to live to God. In Christ, instead of trying hard, we submit to the Lord who obeyed the Father to the point of death. We admit ourselves humbly that we are not able to please God with our efforts and contributions, even thousands of offerings. We can please God through faith only (Hebrews 11:6). Our humble acceptance is the same as standing at the cross with Christ. It is painful, humiliating, and shameful to accept the fact that we are not able to stand before God with our flesh educated, trained, experienced, and disciplined through many achievements with toils and sufferings.
It is not still enough and never
will. Only Jesus’ blood can enable us to stand before the throne of grace. We are
indeed free in him, through him, by him, and for him. We are free even when we
fail over and over again (Romans 8:1). We freely serve the Lord. We voluntarily
obey God as our Lord Jesus did on the cross. And we share his resurrection
power freely through the faith in Christ. We don’t do always though. Then,
simply and faithfully remind of the love of God that he died for us while we
were still sinners. Now we are his children, the beloved ones. How much more would
he save us from the present troubles! Seven times? Not so, even seven times
seven. There is no limit in his love. There is no measure in his grace. He
giveth and giveth and giveth again. Forgiveness, forgiveness, and forgiveness
again.
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth
again.
May
26, 2019
© 2018-2019 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
