Our scripture reading this week are,

Isa 29:13-21. Rom 14:14-23 and Mark7:1-13 .

1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and(2)saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” 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 ‘unclean’ 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 but rules taught by men.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”

9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

I have titled our message this week…

Traditions

Someone once asked the profound question,

“How many (Presbyterians)does it take to change a light bulb?” *

The correct answer is, of course, “Change the light bulb? Why, my grandfather donated that light bulb!”

Well, (Presbyterians) are not the only ones who have trouble with change. Anytime change takes place in any institution, particularly the church, there is resistance.

The leaders of the Jewish community were criticizing the Lord’s disciples (and indirectly Christ himself) for eating with unwashed hands. We need not think of “unwashed hands” in the hygienic sense; rather, it was the custom a “tradition ”of the Jews to ceremonially cleanse themselves from any “defilement” they perceived they had picked up from contact with Gentiles (whom they considered religiously and socially “unclean”).

Does this sound familiar to how we handle our current situation during this pandemic.?

This attitude and activity was not a part of Moses’ law, but a strictly human tradition that had evolved in the Hebrew culture over the years. When,the Pharisees and scribes saw that the Savior’s disciples were not conforming to this rabbinic “tradition,” they felt they had an indictment against Christ and his men.So to today as many unbelievers may perceive the church.

Knowing well,the attitude that prompted the charge, Jesus did not take the time to explain the matter to his critics. Rather, he “turned the table” on them, and focused attention on a serious violation of Moses’ law by another of their human traditions known as” corban.”

The law of Moses required the Hebrew people to “honor” their parents. That term “honor” did not suggest mere “lip service”; it included the idea of caring for them in their various needs.

Some of the Jews, however, had concocted a scheme to avoid parental responsibility. They would designate certain of their financial resources as “corban.” The Greek word korban is related to the term korbanas, signifying the “temple treasury.” In Jewish practice, so, the word “corban” had been coined as a sort of “vow” term. According to the prevailing tradition, one could designate his financial resources as “corban,” which, practically speaking, was a way of “tagging” them, suggesting, “this belongs to God,” and thus was not to be used for personal interests.

Please do not misunderstand. They were not alone. It’s just that Jesus expected more out of them. They were God’s elect. Pharisee means set apart. And yet when it came to how they treated others, they were just like everyone else. They were more interested in their own agenda than they were in God’s agenda.

They were like a teacher who observed a boy entering her classroom with dirty hands. She stopped him and said, “Johnny, please wash your hands. My goodness, what would you say if I came into the room with hands like that?”

With a smile the boy replied, “I think I’d be too polite to mention it.”

Now, what does that mean to us? What traditions do we call “Corban” but don’t know why? How do we respond when our traditions are challenged?

Here’s a story that may help us better understand about holding on to traditions.

Years ago in the old Russian Empire the ruling czar, Nicolas II, was strolling through the vast palace gardens when he came upon a lonely guard standing at attention in a secluded corner of the great meandering gardens.” what are you guarding?” Asked the inquisitive ruler. ” To tell you the truth, O Great Sovereign, I have no idea, but the captain of the guard ordered me to this post,” the century replied.

Czar Nicholas then summoned the captain and made further inquiries as to what was being guarded. The captain of the guard replied, “O Great Sovereign, there are clear written regulations specifying that a guard was to be assigned to that precise corner at all times and this has been done as long as I can remember.” The curious czar then ordered a search to find out why.

The palace archives finally yielded the answer. Years before, Catherine the Great had planted a special rose bush in that corner, and she had firmly ordered a sentry to be posted there to guard it so nothing might disturb or damage it. Now, one hundred years later, even though the rose bush had died long before, sentries were still guarding the now barren corner of dirt, even though no one knew why!

Traditions of faith can be valuable.

They may be useful in preserving special experiences or ideals handed down by family or culture. However, we should be careful in what we spend our time guarding! Many religions zealously defend rituals which have lost their meaning. People may faithfully stand by traditions but not know why.

There is a more serious concern regarding traditions that Jesus warned us about. If a custom should ever stand in conflict with the commandments of God, it should be thrown out. Christ told us that holding such traditions “ nullify the word of God”(Mark 7:13). It’s a good idea to reflect on the traditions we keep. Do they conflict with God’s law? If so, we are stepping away from the Bible. It’s like standing guard over a dead rose bush.

Tradition is a powerful force in our lives. That is not only true in religion, but in all of society.

We have our family traditions. One woman tells about a banana loaf she was making. The loaf was in the oven when her 16‑year old son came into the kitchen where the family had gathered. “That bread smells about done, don’t you think, Mom?” he asked. His mother told him that she had set the timer and it was fine. A little later he passed through the kitchen again. He said, “Mom, I really think that loaf is done. I think you should check it.” Always quick to her mom’s defense, the woman’s 13‑year old daughter said, “Eddie, Mom’s been burning that banana bread for 20 years, now. I think she knows when to take it out.” Well, Mom’s burned banana bread had become a tradition. We have traditions in our families, some of which are wholesome and some, perhaps not. But tradition shows up in everything we do.

We have traditions according to our cultural heritage. We even have traditions according to the region of the county we live in and which sports team we follow or what hobby we may have. Of course, traditions play a bigger role in some communities more than others.

Example, there’s a story about a small-town church in upstate New York. They’d had the same pastor in that church for over thirty-five years. He was loved by the church and the community. After he retired, he was replaced by a new younger pastor . It was his first church; he had a great desire to do well. He had been at the church for several months when he began to perceive that the people were upset with him. He was troubled.

Eventually he called aside one of the elders of the church and said, “I don’t know what’s wrong, but I have a feeling that there’s something wrong.”

The elder said, “Well, Pastor , that’s true. I hate to say it, but it’s the way you do the Communion service.”

“The way I do the Communion service? What do you mean?” asked the young pastor.

“Well, it’s not so much what you do as what you leave out,” said the elder.

“I don’t think I leave out anything from the Communion service,” the pastor answered.

“Oh yes, you do,” the elder replied. “Just before our previous pastor passed the elements to the elders , he’d always go over and touch the radiator. And, then, he would . . .” “Touch the radiator?” said the young pastor , “I never heard of that liturgical tradition.”

So the new pastor called the former pastor. He said, “I haven’t even been here a few months , and I’m in trouble.”

“In trouble? Why?” asked the older man.

“Well, it has something to do with communion something to do with touching the radiator. Could that be possible?” he asked. “Did you do that?”

“Oh yes, I did,” said his predecessor. “Always before I passed the elements to the elders, I touched the radiator to discharge the static electricity so I wouldn’t shock them.”

It seems that some of his church elders had been getting shocked slightly when he handed them the elements. For over thirty-five years, the people of his congregation had thought that touching the radiator was a part of the holy tradition.

Traditions may tell us what was appropriate for our ancestors, but they may not be reliable indicators for how we should live today. Jesus was continually saying to his disciples, “You have heard it said . . . , but I say unto you . . .” Tradition is one guide for our behavior, but only one. Times change. Situations change. Far more important is the living Spirit of God moving in our midst now, guiding us in our present situation.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were deeply religious people, but they had begun substituting their traditions for God. Their traditions told them who was acceptable and who was not. Even if God Himself came to them and tried to change their traditions, they would not listen. Indeed, God did come to them in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. They would not listen. Instead, they nailed him to a tree. Do you see that the same thing could happen to us?

It has certainly happened to us in the past. Indeed, we might say one of our traditions is resistance to change. But God is a God of change. Let us open our hearts to the movement of the living God today.

In His Service

Pastor Joe