Tradition

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.”

Tradition is not a bad thing. It helps us to understand God’s laws and apply them to our lives in fruitful ways. However, it becomes bad when it contradicts Scripture, and in today’s passage we discover exactly how this can happen. “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions,” Jesus says to the Jewish elders. And then he speaks about how they justify breaking God’s commandments because their traditions are given more importance than the word of God. Let me explain this simply.

The 5th Commandment, as you probably know, is: “Honor your father and mother” (see Exodus 20:12). How did the tradition of the Pharisees contradict this? Because their tradition declared that money and resources were “Corban”. This meant that their money and resources were devoted to God. Now, this seems like a good thing on the face of it, to declare that our wealth belongs to God? However, unfaithful sons were using this as an excuse not to support their parents! And this was breaking the fifth commandment!n”Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” Jesus says, adding, “And you do many things like that!”

How do we avoid making the mistakes of the Pharisees? Simply by ensuring we do not nullify the word of God by the traditions that have been handed down to us. This implies a knowledge of Scripture, especially the New Testament because this contains the new covenant that God has made with us through his Son and the new life we have because of him. When we have a knowledge of Scripture, we can determine when we might be led astray. We shouldn't take anything we hear for granted, just because it is seems to be coming from a trusted source or spoken by a wise or learned man.

Consider Paul. We all know that Paul was both wise and learned, and trusted as well, yet people didn’t take his words at face value. Scripture says that "the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). "As a result, many of them believed …"  (Acts 17:12). We don’t have to discount tradition. As already stated, it helps us understand God’s laws better and put them into practice more effectively.

However, when it contradicts Scripture, Jesus makes it clear which we need to follow.