God's Command Above Tradition

Matthew 15:1-9
KV 15:6b; “Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.”

Tradition has its own merit. It is based on a shared heritage. It preserves culture and community. Further, Godly tradition is more precious than secular tradition. But there is a downfall. As the tradition settles in the community of God, it may be taken above God's command. The community can forget to evaluate their traditions in light of God's command. In this passage, Jesus cites the Scriptures to rectify this.

“Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat (Mt. 15:1, 2)!’” Jesus and his disciples were eating together. Probably they were invited to a banquet by a prominent figure in society. Probably, some women who were following Jesus prepared a wonderful dinner. Or there was not much food, but they ate joyfully sharing what they had. In any case, the disciples did not wash their hands before they ate. This provoked the Pharisees and teachers of the law to anger, which led to their accusation in verses 1-2. The stories of some Rabbi enlighten us in understanding their reaction. Rabbi Joses said, "To eat with unwashed hands is as great a sin as adultery." The Rabbi Akiba laid the foundation of Judaism after the destruction of Jerusalem. When he was in prison, guards brought two cups of water: one for washing his hand and the other for drinking. When the cup for washing his hand was spilt he used the other cup for washing instead of drinking. The religious leaders not only practiced it, but also enforced it.

Washing hands before the meal was one of the important traditions in the Jewish society. It was not written in the Scriptures as the command of God, yet its weight was almost to the level of a command from God. In fact, some other Jewish traditions were as highly respected and practiced among the Jews as the commands of God. Most of their traditions were derived from God’s commands. For example, the Jews celebrated the Passover. Celebrating the Passover was dictated by Moses. On the other hand there were so many details that were not commanded and varied from one tribe to another. There were so many traditions in celebrating the Passover. Those traditions were built over the years and had many special meanings. The traditions also played a vital role in forming a community. When outsiders saw their activities during the Passover, they easily recognized their particular culture and customs. In the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, the protagonist Tevye sings a song on tradition. He has so many traditions. He cannot keep up with all of them, but embraces all of them. He puts a tassel around his clothes. He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. When he enters a house, he touches the sign on the doorpost and blesses the household. Those traditions are intermixed with their godly values and make his community knit together against the bad influence of the world. When his two older daughters find their own fiancées from his race, he tolerates them. Tevye, however, cannot bless his youngest daughter, since her fiancée is not a Jew, but a Russian. The marriage outside the same race is incomprehensible to him.

Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition (Mt. 15:3)?" When the religious leaders accused his disciples of breaking the Sabbath law, Jesus defended his disciples. Unlike other times, Jesus did not bother to defend his disciples. Rather he took offense. He incriminated the religious leaders for violating the command of God. Although it could be seen as a trivial event, Jesus picked a fight with a clear principle. He addressed the underlining principles of their practice. Jesus did not say that tradition itself was wrong. There are so many traditions. Some are good and some are bad. Some are in line with God’s command and some are mixed with sinful desires of men. Some are just mysterious and capture mind of people to follow. In any case, the tradition of the elders went too far. In some respects their tradition was their god. They put the tradition above the command of God. Instead of evaluating the tradition in light of the command of God and making necessary corrections, they blindly promoted their sacred traditions. Their traditions replaced the command of God and trampled it during their practice.

Some traditions may be easy to tell whether they are right and wrong in light of God’s command. Other traditions are intermingled with the command of God and are hard to judge whether they are good or bad. Jesus confronted very subtle, yet most controversial tradition of the day. “For God said, `Honor your father and mother' and `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to `honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition (Mt. 4-7).” Jesus quoted one of the Ten Commandments. Among the laws and regulations, the Ten Commandments was the foundation. Every Jewish child learned it as they grew and knew it by heart, hearing it so many times. It was the law above the laws. Needless to say it was the command of God. Jesus analyzed one of their traditions in light of one command in the Ten Commandments. The religious leaders taught many people to offer their gift to God. In order to facilitate and promote it, they granted even an exemption of their duty to their parents. This was widely practiced in the society, grieving many old parents in their needs. In the given system, the religious leaders used such provision to increase their income. So the tradition was purely based on their greed. Yet they called it a devotion to God. So nobody could argue it, since it amounted to the first commandment of God. They presented their tradition as if it was equal to the first command of God and was above the fifth command of God. In nature, it was nothing but a rule of man.

It is sad to find the same kind of mistakes in church history. The early church practiced two things: communion and baptism. They were the only sacraments specifically commanded by Jesus Christ. Baptism was done once during one’s life. Communion was done as many times as needed. All the believers were invited to participate. It was a time of unity and even became a love feast. As the church grew, this practice began to take more rigorous shape as a ritual ceremony. All kinds of regulation were added, which became a tradition. Around the middle age, the church began to separate clerics from laymen. The church further defined priests to be among the clerics, not among laymen. The priests had more privileges than laymen. At some point, the church prevented laymen from eating bread and drinking wine during the communion. They watched priests taking them. So the time of communion was not the time of unity for the church, but the time of separation and even discrimination between the priests and laymen. When Jesus shared the bread with his disciples, he even shared the bread with Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus later. It was the expression of his love. When he commanded his followers to practice, he wanted everyone to participate equally in this communion. If Jesus saw such dramatic change in practicing the communion, he would have lamented and condemned all the leaders who inadvertently upheld such tradition. Yet the church practiced its own tradition for a long time, completely ignoring the command of Jesus, the head of the church.

After Jesus exposed the fallacy of the religious leaders, he cited Isaiah to address two more fundamental issues. Jesus could see things more clearly, since he was well versed in Isaiah. The Pharisees and teachers of the law also knew it, but they never imagined that Isaiah's message was addressed to them. They thought the message was for someone else. They read, but were blind. "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you (Mt. 7b)." Jesus cited Isa. 29:13 in his rebuke. Not many people could see what Jesus saw. Not many people protested against the practice of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Jesus could, since he knew Isaiah in its original spirit. When they emphasized tradition and enforced it among the people, many accepted their direction without question. People also thought that they did so out of love for God. Jesus' insight for the problem was based on the Scriptures.

First, their hearts were far from God. "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (Mt. 15:8)." It is easy to hear what people say, but hard to know what they have in their hearts. Although the Pharisees and teachers of the law emphasized tradition, they did not have God in their minds. Rather they were far from God. They had no relationship with God. Because of the lack of the relationship with God, they could not understand what God spoke through the Scriptures. This was their pitfall. The more they emphasized their traditions, the more they revealed how far they were away from God. Nobody viewed it this way. But Isaiah had such an insight toward the people who put tradition above God's command. Jesus gained such insight from the Scriptures.

Second, they worshipped God in vain. "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men (Mt. 15:9)." The Pharisees and teachers of the law emphasized tradition and enforced it, thinking that they worshipped God. By making extra effort and even strenuous effort beyond what was required by the law they believed that they were better in worshipping God than other ordinary people. But they worshipped God in vain. Their extra effort only grieved God and had nothing to do with serving God. It could have been better if they had done nothing. It was an ironic reality. They wasted their youth and energy on something that had nothing to do with worshiping God. When they vowed to become a Pharisee or a teacher of the law, they had only one goal— to worship God. They ended up making a tragic mistake, since their teachings were but rules taught by men. As they emphasized tradition, their teachings became more and more away from the command of God. By the time they studied so much in depth about the tradition, they totally forgot its connection with the command of God. Worshiping God was at the heart to obey his command. By breaking his command, they not only worshiped God in vain, but also displeased him.

Jesus had a great insight toward the mistake of the Pharisees and religious leaders, since Jesus could see their tradition in light of God’s command. Jesus could see clearly because he saw it from the point of Isaiah. He could have the same vision as Isaiah, since he understood it inside and out. It was not based on special revelation or human wisdom. It was based on the Scriptures. His absolute reverence toward God’s command gave him such wisdom.