MOVING TO WHY? (MATTHEW 15:1-20)

The theme for our reflection is “moving to why?” Moving to why? means focusing on the reason or the purpose for which something is done. The Pharisees wanted to know why the disciples do not follow the religious tradition of ceremonially washing their hands before eating, on the contrary, Jesus also wanted them to give Him the reason for emphasising religious tradition over teaching the Word of God as written in the Scripture. In other words, Jesus draws their attention to the fact that we must be more concerned about doing the will of God rather than religiously following established human traditions which do not lead to the transformation and cleansing of the heart.

The Pharisees were always bent on finding fault with Jesus and proving to the people that He is not from God, this time “some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” (Matthew 15:1-2) The hand-washing the Pharisees were talking about was not hygienic hand-washing for the purpose of cleanliness but rather ceremonial or ritual hand washing. The ritual cleansing of hands was established by the law in Exodus 30:20-21, for the priests in the temple, it says “When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. ²¹ They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.” The Pharisees had developed the temple ritual cleansing of the hands into an established tradition which was now applied to all the Jews at their homes and wherever they found themselves. It was for this reason, they accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the tradition of not washing their hands before eating in Matthew 15:2. Obviously, Jesus and disciples would wash their hands before eating if was really dirty. The focus of the Pharisees is to prove to the crowd that the disciples of Jesus were unclean because of their failure of to follow the established tradition.

Jesus responded to their question with another question that exposes their hypocrisy and shallow understanding as teachers of the Word of God. Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matthew 15:3) In other words, why do the Pharisees overemphasise humanly created tradition over the divine instructions of God? For instance, Jesus cited an example of the Pharisees emphasising the tradition of giving at all cost even if it means neglecting our parents who may need your help, meanwhile, God teaches us to honour and take care of our parents. So long as we are alive we shall always give for the furtherance of God’s work but our parents will not live long, so why don’t take we take care of them while they are alive or when they need our help. In contradiction to God’s will of honouring our parents, Jesus says the Pharisees teach that “if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ ⁶ they are not to ‘honour their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition (Matthew 15:5-6). Jesus proves to the Pharisees that the washing of hands and the neglect of parents are mere traditions and not founded on the Word of God. It is for this reason, He said to them “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ⁸ “‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁹ They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules (Matthew 15:7-9). Let us always pray for wisdom and discernment to decipher between human traditions and the Word of God. Beloved in the Lord, there are things we do in our churches which are mere traditions. For instance, a man married to two wives cannot partake in the Holy Communion, the second wife of a polygamous marriage cannot take part in the Holy Communion, and Church leaders must first partake in the Holy Communion before other members of the Church take their turn. A pastor who is not ordained cannot give the benediction with his or her two hands raised, a probation or commissioned pastor can only give the benediction with the right hand raised, and the lay preacher cannot give benediction with any of the hands raised as if to say that this tradition will affect God’s blessing in the lives of the worshippers. All the above-mentioned traditions in my church do not have any Biblical foundations, they are merely traditions!

Beloved in the Lord Jesus emphasises the fact that we must not uphold traditions and neglect God’s Word which transforms our hearts. Breaking the traditional rule of eating with an unwashed hand is better than disobeying God’s Word and having an unclean heart. It is for this reason, “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”…“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? (as waste) ¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15:10-11,17-20). In other words, being obsessed with traditions will not transform us but obeying God’s Word and having a relationship with Him will transform us and keep our hearts cleansed from any evil that will defile us before God. Beloved in the Lord, in as much as we hold onto traditions in our churches let us focus more on understanding the Word of God and living according to His will to keep us remain undefiled. We may wash our hands a thousand times but if our hearts are filled with evil, God will not be pleased with us. However, even if we don’t wash our hands but are deeply rooted in the Word of God and understand His will, He will be pleased with us. Dear friend, we have been given the reason why we must not fall into the temptation of religiously following established traditions to the neglect of our salvation and obedience to the Word of God. Let us focus on the foundation of our faith which is the Word of God before considering established human traditions which are good for social order and identity but do not guarantee our salvation. Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, grant us the discernment not to fall into the temptation of holding on to traditions at the expense of our salvation. Help us to focus on God’s Word and may our hearts remain cleansed from evil even as we do His will. Amen.