“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?’ He [Jesus] 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. They worship me in vain; their
teachings are merely human rules.’ You
have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’ And
he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in
order to observe your own traditions!’” — Mark 7:5-9
Have you ever sat on a bench at the mall and just watched
people go by? Each one unique in their own way, physical form and the clothes
they wear. But, at the same time, there is a common thread that connects many of
them. When people are young, they try
hard to be their own person, but try as they might, their individuality, it
turns out, is much like a lot of others’ individuality. So they are unique but not.
People have a need to identify with others. It might be social status, ethnicity, geography,
politics, vocation, avocation, or perhaps faith – or lack of it. We love to put people in pigeon holes – to classify
people – to say they are a this or that. The Pharisees were focused on
tradition. Rules of behavior and norms that had evolved over the
centuries. The measure for someone
living and doing right, in their minds was the extent to which a person
conformed to men’s traditions. What men had determined was right living and
thinking.
Jesus, on the other hand, told them that the root – the source
– for right living and thinking was not men, but God. He chastised them for
choosing men over God. That has not
changed much. The nature of man does not
change. Dwellings, technology, clothes, vocabulary – all of those things evolve
– generation to generation. But at the core,
nothing has changed. We still struggle with the same thinking that brought sin
into the world – when Adam and Eve were convinced that they knew better that
God. It was a problem for the Pharisees. It was a problem in the Garden. It was
a problem when Joshua led the nation of Israel.
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then
choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your
ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
– Joshua 24:15
And it is a problem today.
Our flesh is drawn to the natural – what man imagines is right and
follows. Every day we are challenged to yield to traditions of men over
God. We want to be accepted by others.
So, if we must compromise our faith and allegiance to God to find that
acceptance – we will.
I have shared this before, but I will share it again. When we lived in Haiti and I would preach in
a Haitian church, I would often begin with “Mwen pa blan, mwen fre nou.”
Translation – I am not white I am your brother.
Every time, I could see that few understood the spiritual truth in what
I said. All they saw was a white guy
speaking who was obviously not like them – ethnically, culturally,
socio-economically. That was my point.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” –
Galatians 3:28
That is what the Word says.
That is how God sees us. That is
how we should see others. But we don’t do we.
We see each other, largely, in the context of the natural and respond
accordingly. And wrongly. Stop embracing the world thinking that by
doing so you will find what you are looking for – you won’t. Think about it.
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