Michael Rankin talked to us on Sunday about A Treatise on Tradition, another lesson showing how Jesus is a Master Teacher. In Mark 7, a group of Pharisees traveled from Jerusalem and saw Jesus’ followers eating with dirty hands. This was the worst thing they observed at that moment, so they argued with Jesus about it. Please understand, this hand-washing was not about cleanliness; germs wouldn’t be discovered for another 1,800 years. The (man-created) tradition at the time was to have a “ceremonial washing” of the hands before eating. So the group asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders?”
In Mark 7:6-8, Jesus replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites.” The hypocrites “...have let go of the commands of God and are holding onto human traditions." Their man-made traditions had overshadowed God’s teaching.
In Mark 7:14-16 Jesus says, “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." And later, in Mark 7:17-19, Jesus essentially declares all foods clean, saying “...nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them… for it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach…”
Jesus clarified further in Mark 7:20-23, "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.” So it's not what goes into your mouth, but what comes out of it that defiles. Evil thoughts inspire evil activity. These wrongs originate with evil impulses from the heart.
Jesus didn’t condemn tradition as such. He condemned those who elevated their human traditions above God’s Word. He also condemned judging others based on traditions, rather than truth, and of teaching tradition as though it was Truth.
In the sermon on the mount Jesus exposed hypocrites who made an outward show of their religion. It elevates you, not God, to put on such a show. Faith isn’t about worrying about what people think about you. Faith is about what God thinks of you.
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