Hungry for God: Trading Tradition for Truth

“And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’”—Mark 7:5

Traditions are the ways we remember that which is important—tangible reminders about that which is dear to us. It is our way of connecting to the past, commemorating what is important, of participating in a great cloud of witnesses of the living and the dead—a transcendent participation in that which is greater than ourselves. Traditions can be good, and they can be bad, in today’s passage, traditions became bad. When traditions surpass revelation, and that which is to serve as a reminder of that which is important eclipses that which is important, then an egregious error has occurred. To slight one’s ancestors may be dishonorable or shameful, but to slight God’s obvious commands is abominable.

In Jesus’ day, there were those in their search for piety, adhered to the traditions of those who had gone before, and in doing so, had use tradition to trump the clear and plain truth of God’s Word and earned a stiff rebuke from the Son of God,

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me;
in vain do they worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men”—Mark 7:6-8.

He went further,

“You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’  But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do’”—Mark 7:9-13.

Jesus had no patience for traditions that trumped the truth of God’s Word. And His rebuke of their observance should make us all stop and think. Every one of us has some semblance of tradition in our lives, some means by which we connect to the past and reconnoiter our purpose and identity in life. The filter of faith must continually run all of life through God’s Word, carefully allowing the light of truth to expose the mold of misguided and mislaid loyalty whenever it contradicts God’s clear commands of Scripture. And whenever our traditions are trusted in rather than truth, traditions must be removed from the throne of our hearts—the coup of compromise must be run out of the throne room where Christ dwells.

Are there any traditions in our life that trumps truth? Are you giving shelter to that which seeks to radically readjust the message Christ died to confirm? If so, you must condemn that which can potentially kill your faith. Let Christ be your all in all, and allow Him through His Word to be the directing force in your life. There will never be any wonder at what might have been or a question if honor is not being bestowed upon those long since forgotten. He is the God of the living and the dead, and His purposes and promises trump even the most honorable of graces and observations, because all of history bows down paying homage to Him who holds history in the palm of His hand. Amen.