Matthew 15:1-14, Tradition

The Scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as the guardians of righteousness (cf. Mt. 5:20), especially the ones from Jerusalem.  They were the big honchos, concerned about what they are hearing out of Galilee.  The issue they raise is one of “tradition.” 

The word for tradition (v2), like our English word, means “to hand down, to deliver.” There were myriads of traditions handed down to help people keep the Law of Moses.  The tradition was not God’s law, although some claimed it was “oral law.”  Traditions prescribed an action, to be used in a particular situation, that when done enabled you to keep the Law in that situation.  Traditions actually made people’s lives difficult, heaping burdens on them.  They confused and discouraged people in seeking God.  A rabbi once said, “The words of the Scribes are lovely beyond the words of the law, for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the Scribes are all weighty.” (From The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on Mt. 15:2.) 

You might think Jesus ignored their question (hand washing) and deflected to another issue (honoring your parents).  Jesus first went beyond quibbling over handwashing to the real issue.  The power of the Scribes and Pharisees depended on raising the importance of their traditions to a level on par with the Law of Moses.  The effect of that was to diminish the Word of God (v6).  Jesus made it clear that hand-washing was not an important religious issue (v10-11, 15-20).  What is important is that we live out of every Word of God (Mt. 4:4).

Devoting one’s possessions to the temple could, in fact, cause a person to violate one of the Ten Commandments.  It was “legal” by tradition to take money that you should use for your parents and give devote it instead to the temple, supposedly giving it to the Lord. The problem was that it was “illegal” according to the word of God! You might think you were drawing near to God but, in fact, you were disobeying God. 

The end result was Jesus’ judgment taken from Isaiah 29:13. Because of the leadership, the PEOPLE were far from the Lord and their worship was empty.  Isaiah renders the end of the passage like this: Their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.  Most Jews did not actually fear God; they feared the Scribes and Pharisees (remember, Paul once had a zeal for these traditions, Gal. 1:14).  That’s why Jesus’ disciples asked if He knew they were offended by what He said (v12).  Jesus put things in eternal perspective: the blind leaders and the blind people following them would be uprooted, but God’s plants would be known by their fruit.

We need to consider this in our own situation.  Our traditions about “separation” from non-believers can keep us from obeying Jesus command to make disciples of all nations.  Peter had to learn this in Acts 10, that he had to be willing to go to the house of a Gentile so as to preach the gospel to him.  Do we have traditions that cut us off from the very people God has called us to love and serve?