Mark 7:1-8 Human Traditions and the Word of God Traditions are very important to our lives. They are the ideas and practices we inherit from our parents and ancestors. As the year is slowly moving towards the end, many American traditions will be practiced and shared. For example, the first Monday in September, which is tomorrow, is Labor Day and for many in this country, it is when summer really ends. Labor Day celebrates workers and many family traditions that include using this time to take weekend trips, watch parades, have cookouts, enjoy fun events or just relax. I even heard that after Labor Day women no longer wear white pants, white blouses or white dresses; somebody told me there is no wearing white after Labor Day. Labor Day is another American tradition. Between now and the end of the year, we will see many other holidays that bring up family and social traditions. In October there is Halloween where children dress up in costumes and go from door to door saying, “Trick or Treat.” In November, we will celebrate Thanksgiving, a time when families gather to give thanks to God and just enjoy each other’s company. The big one is Christmas in December, a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and exchange gifts as God became a gift to the world in the form of Jesus Christ. Traditions are good and they connect us to the past. During the days of Jesus, the Jewish people had many traditions but unfortunately, some of those traditions stood in the way of the Word of God. Jesus called attention to those traditions when the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law criticized him and his disciples for not washing their hands before eating. The Jews had a ritual of washing their hands before meal not for health reasons but as a form of purification. As people travel from place to place, it was possible they came into contact with certain things that made them impure such as a dead animal or a dead body. In order to purify the person from the dead animal or person, every Jewish person was expected to wash their hands before meals and that way they purified themselves. There was even a special way to wash the hands and dry them. First, you pour water from a cup or bowl two times over the right hand and then two times over the left hand. As they wash their hands, Jews were expected to say the following prayer: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who has sanctified us with Thy Commandments and has commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.” The Pharisees and religious leaders also had many rules for washing cups, pots, bowls and even beds. This was the tradition all Jews were expected to follow. But when Jesus and his disciples sat down to eat, they did not follow this hand washing tradition. They just started eating. The Pharisees and Lawyers were shocked to see Jesus and his disciples start to eat without ritual hand washing for purification. So they asked Jesus, “Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors but instead they eat with ritually unclean hands? This was a serious question that could have consequences for Jesus among the people. But Jesus answered them by pointing to how the Pharisees and other religious leaders made human traditions so strong that they sometimes became more important than the Word of God. Jesus pointed out to them how they placed their traditions above the Word of God. For example, one of the Ten Commandments said, “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earth.” To honor father and mother was just not in words but in the way we care and provided for our parents. But the Jewish leaders came up with a clever way for people to avoid caring for their parents. They introduced the practice of “Corban.” The word, “Corban” is related to the word, “vow.” In other words, if a person had $500.00 for his parents, he could say, “This is Corban” meaning, “I made a vow to God and so instead of giving this $500 to you, I’m giving it to the Temple so the High Priest can use it to for the Temple.” By creating the human tradition of Corban, many people in the Jewish community neglected to care for their parents and ended up disobeying the Commandment to honor our mother and father. Another tradition the Pharisees introduced that became higher than God’s Word was connected to the Sabbath. The Ten Commandments said, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Six days you shall do all your work but on the Seventh, which is the Sabbath, you are to rest and worship God.” In Matthew 12, the Pharisees again criticized Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath Day. Jesus then called them out and asked them, “What if you have a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath. Will you not take hold of it and lift it out?” Jesus asked the question because he knew many Pharisees had done things such as rescuing their sheep, ox, or donkey on the Sabbath and here they were complaining about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath. Traditions are great and wonderful. They keep us connected to the past as we honor our parents and ancestors who first gave them to us. Every Church also has certain traditions and ways in which people have done things for a long time. However, as times change, sometimes it is necessary to review those traditions and ask whether they are in line with God’s word. There was a time in the United Methodist Church where women were not ordained and were not allowed to preach. That was a tradition of the Church. But we see in Luke 10:38-42 that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and studied with him. In the days of Jesus, students who attended the teachings of their Rabbi would sit at his feet to learn. Mary joined the other disciples when they sat at the feet of Jesus and he did not send her away. Even when her sister, Martha complained that Mary was not helping her, Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the right thing and it will not be taken away from her. As a result of how the Holy Spirit has convicted the United Methodist Church, women were ordained and allowed to preach. Then a woman was elected and consecrated as Bishop. Today the UMC leads the way in women clergy. That has even encouraged Africa to elect its first woman Bishop in Mozambique. The old tradition of not ordaining women was dead but the Word of God showed that women were equal in the sight of God. During the 1990s, four letters became very popular. Those letters were WWJD and they stood for, “What Would Jesus Do?” The question came from a book called, “In His Steps” written by a Christian minister named, Charles Sheldon. The book was about how the First Church had the richest, most decent and most intelligent people in the town of Raymond. But one day they missed an opportunity to help a young man who later died from frustration. The Pastor, Rev. Maxwell then asked for volunteers to try for one year to ask the question, “What Would Jesus Do” before making any decision or taking any action. The power of that question led to the transformation of the church and the town; they dropped many traditions and focused on the Word of God. When Hitler was sounding the drums of war in the 1940s, many German Christians and pastors went along with the tradition that placed their race and their nation above the Word of God. One Lutheran pastor who refused to go along with this dangerous tradition of Hitler and his followers was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It eventually cost him his life but today he is seen as a martyr and we celebrate his position in the Church. Another person that struggled with the human tradition Hitler was proclaiming was Pastor Martin Niemoller. Pastor Niemoller explained the danger of following popular human traditions against the Word of God. He admitted how he kept silent when the Nazis began to round people up although he knew this w as against the will of God. He said, “First they came for the socialists. I did not speak because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me but there was no one left to speak for me.” This is what happens when we place dead and dangerous traditions above God’s Word. But if we have any tradition that takes the place of God’s Word, it is time we examine those traditions and change them. Today we have many traditions that are rich and useful. They allow us to celebrate our past and praise God for the future. The tradition of Labor Day is a wonderful reminder that God made us stewards of creation and told us to have control of the earth and work the land. Let us keep this tradition because it falls in line with the Word of God. First Jesus said it in Luke 10:7 and then Paul repeated it in 1 Timothy 5: 18 – “Workers should be given their pay.” Labor Day is a tradition that celebrates workers. Jesus wants us to follow traditions that allow us to honor God. Labor Day honors God because God is always actively engaged and always busy sustaining and providing for the world he made. May the Spirit give us the courage to keep those traditions that uphold and support God’s Word and glorify our father in heaven. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 23:45:00 +0000
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