Is There Anything Wrong With Tradition?

7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 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.) 5 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?” 6 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.
7 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.

There is nothing wrong with tradition.  I am sure you have family traditions that have been passed down through many generations.  These traditions preserve something special and remind us of important times and people in our lives together.  

There are important Christian traditions that have been passed down since the time of Jesus as well.  Traditions like praying the Lord's Prayer, participating inthe Lord's Supper, and greeting each other with phrases like the "Lord Be With You" which begs the response, "And also with you!"  These traditions can become hollow as well if we are just going through the motions.  

But the situation with the Pharisees was more problematic.  They were so focused on manmade traditions that they were completely forgetting about their relationship with God.  They so focused on the rules that they forgot about the rule maker.  In some cases rabbi's placed a higher authority on Misha, which was a collection of Jewish traditions than the Hebrew Scriptures themselves. For instance one Mishna recorded,

"It is a greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the Rabbis than to contradict Scripture itself.’” (Wiersbe)

But lest we be too judgmental of the Jewish leaders in Jesus' time, aren't we also prone to getting stuck in religious activity and miss the heart of the matter.  For instance, we can pray really quickly without really even thinking about what we are saying.  We can speed-read through a bible chapter, just to say we read the bible today.  

One Commentator poses these questions:

Would God say something similar to us?

· They attend church, but their heart is far from Me.

· They read their Bible, but their heart is far from Me.

· They pray eloquently, but their heart is far from Me.

· They contribute money, but their heart is far from Me.

· They do ministry, but their heart is far from Me.

· They love to sing, but their heart is far from Me.

· They talk to others about Jesus, but their heart is far from Me.

Friends there is nothing wrong with tradition. There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the bible and praying.  Let's just remember why we are doing these things?  We are doing them to experience being in God's presence.  We are doing them to share our hearts with God, as he shares his with us.  We are serving him because he served us and loved us and gave himself for us on the cross!