“TRADITIONS OF MEN!”

Mark 7:1-13

INTRODUCTION:

            During a service at an old synagogue in Eastern Europe, the Shema prayer was said.  If you don’t know what the Shema prayer is, it is the saying of Deuteronomy 6:4 over and over: “Hear, O Israel.  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  When the prayer was said, half the congregants stood up and half remained sitting. 

            The half that was seated started yelling at those standing to sit down.  And the ones standing yelled at the ones sitting to stand up.  The rabbi, educated as he was in the Law and commentaries, didn’t know what to do.  His congregation suggested that he consult a housebound 98 year old man, who was one of the founders of their temple. 

The rabbi hoped the elderly man would be able to tell him what the actual temple tradition was.  So he went to the nursing home with a representative of each faction on the congregation.

            The one whose followers stood during the Shema said to the old man, “Is the tradition to stand during the prayer?”  The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.”  The one whose followers sat asked, “Is it the tradition to sit during the Shema?”  The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.” 

            Then the rabbi spoke up, “But, the congregants fight all the time, yelling at each other…”  The old man interrupted, exclaiming, “THAT is the tradition!”

            How many of you have seen the old movie, Fiddler on the Roof?  It is one of my all-time favorite movies.  Remember the opening scene: there’s the village, and you see a fiddler on the roof playing away.  And Tevye, the main man in the movie, says to the viewers, “A fiddler on the roof.  Sounds crazy, no?  But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck.  It isn’t easy. 

You may ask, ‘why do we stay here if it is so dangerous?’  We stay because Anatevka is our home.  And how do we keep our balance?  That I can tell you in a word—TRADITION.  Because of our traditions, we’ve kept our balance for many, many years.  Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything—how to eat, how to wear clothes. 

For instance, we always keep our head covered and always wear a little shawl.  This shows our constant devotion to God.  You may ask, ‘how did this tradition start?’  I’ll tell you—I don’t know.”

Isn’t that the way it is with most traditions?  We quite often don’t know why we do what we do—we just do it because it is tradition.  The traditions of men!  That is what we are going to talk about, this morning—the traditions of men as opposed to the ways of God.  And how God is really calling us to live our lives.

GOD’S STORY: (Explanation)

            Let me make it perfectly clear: God is certainly not opposed to tradition.  Some tradition is very good.  What God is opposed to is the traditions of men that go against His ways and His perfect will.  And that is what happens in our passage.  Let me set the stage.

            The Messiah had arrived!  And his ministry had been going full bore—preaching and teaching and healing and driving out demons—all in the name of God.  Well, here come these religious experts from Jerusalem to have another go at him.  They have quite a different view of what should be done in the name of God.  They thought their way was the way of God and that Jesus was some radical character come to destroy their authority over the people.

            It didn’t take long to find a reason to come down on him.  Can’t you just see these clowns watching every move Jesus/disciples were making?  Then they spotted it—a mighty infraction of righteous behavior.  Jesus’ disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate! 

            Can’t you just feel the sense of contentment in their hearts when they spotted it?  “All right!  Let’s blast him!”  With a sense of glee, they came to Jesus.  In V.5 they ask, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean hands’?”  They were good actors, so they did it with a straight face.  But boy, were they excited to be confronting this rebel. 

            But, Jesus knew their gig, didn’t he?  He immediately blasted them right between their self-righteous eyes.  “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites…”  Jesus was quoting God’s word to them.  He was telling them that they lost their love for God.  They thought God really cared about all their religious rules/traditions that had been passed down.  But, God really wanted their worship.  Jesus said in V.8, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” 

            This goes back to when God brought His people out of Egypt.  Through Moses, He gave His people Laws to live by.  They were given so the people could live together in community.  But, what happened was generation after generation of oral tradition being handed down.  And, each tradition handed down got further and further away from God.  That is why Jesus said they let go of the commands of God and were holding on to the traditions of men.  They were living the ways of men.  They were choosing their own way. 

            They were kind of like the archer in the following story:  A king went out hunting one day.  In the forest, he was surprised to come across several trees which had targets painted on them.  In each of the targets, perfectly in the center, there was an arrow.  “I must find this incredible archer and make him part of my special guard.”  So he/his hunting crew went in search of their new quarry.  Before long they came across a boy with a bow and arrow, just stepping away from another bullseye, perfectly stuck. 

            “Come here, my boy,” called the king.  “Did you really shoot these arrows?”  “I swear, my King, I shot from 100 paces.”

            “Indeed! Then please join my hunting group, for you are an amazing shot!  Please tell me, how did you learn to aim with such precision?”  The boy replied, “I simply look squarely at the tree, hold my breath, and let the arrow fly…Then I walk up to the tree and paint a target around the arrow.”  These religious guys confronting Jesus were painting their own targets.  In doing so, they were missing God’s target—the target that really counts.

            Jesus wasn’t quite done with them.  He had another example of how far they had strayed.  It was the example of Corban.  They all knew the 5^th Commandment—honor your father and your mother.  Along with other things, that meant they should support them in their old age.  But, they devised a nifty little loophole that had become a tradition. 

            Corban was a gift designated for the Lord.  The tradition was to call the support money for the folks’ old age a Corban—a gift to the Lord—so they didn’t have to use it to support them.  And, then they would use the money for their own purposes.  It was a clever tradition.  And Jesus was calling them on it.  He said they were nullifying the word of Lord by their tradition.  Jesus was pretty well pointing out that when they lived by men’s ways, they set aside God’s wishes. 

OUR STORY: (Application)

            Men’s ways are foolish!  So, why is our world so given over to the traditions of men?  We, the people of today, too often live our lives by men’s ways.  We are no different than the people in Jesus’ day, are we?  Tradition continually gets passed down from generation to generation.  And, God’s ways and His will gets pushed further and further to the side. 

            If you don’t think so, look at the list of men’s traditions listed in V.21-22.  These are all traditions of men because they certainly aren’t the ways/will of God.  Just look at them one by one. 

SEXUAL IMMORALITY—who can deny sexual immorality is at the top of the list, today, of the traditions of men?  The other day a top general said, “homosexuality is immoral.”  He barely got the words out of his mouth and a very prominent senator said, “homosexuality isn’t immoral.”  Well Senator, it has been for thousands of years.  Why isn’t it immoral now?  Do you really think God doesn’t think it is immoral?  Read His word!    

THEFT—a common practice in business, today.  It’s a badge of honor to pad your expense account.  Cheat your company any way you can.  If you want it, take it!

MURDER—life is not valued like it once was, is it?  Life has been cheapened so much.  But God values every life.  And that includes the life not yet born.  Psalm 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”  It is God who creates life.  And what God has created, no tradition of men should destroy.

ADULTRY—who can deny adultery is at the top of the list of men’s traditions?  It’s okay—hardly anybody looks down on the sin of adultery.  How many marriages—how many families broken—because “it’s okay to be adulterous, today?”

GREED—aren’t we taught everyday in this country to want more/more no matter what?  Go out and get it—you deserve it!  It is the American way!

MALICE—means to see someone else experience pain/injury.  If you don’t think that is prevelant in our society, just watch one of these reality shows or watch the news.

DECEIT—one might ask, “are there any real honest people in our world, anymore?”    Of course there are, but it seems that most people would rather not be.

LEWDNESS—who can argue with that being a tradition of men these days?  Look at how young people dress, today compared to 30 years ago; 20 or even 10.  Listen to the language.  Listen to the music.  Read the books/magazines.

ENVY—wanting something really bad that someone else has.  Nothing wrong with that, is there?  Well, that’s not what Jesus says.

SLANDER—slander is making false statements about someone.  What’s wrong with that?  We can get ahead if we put someone else down, can’t we?

ARROGANCE—arrogance is just the opposite of what Jesus was—being humble.  Christ wants us to be humble, but we usually prefer to be arrogant.

FOLLY—folly is just the plain ole lack of good sense.  Who can argue that the traditions of men hasn’t brought to us folly?

It may seem like we in our society are going in the opposite direction as Jesus society.  They were being overly religious and we are being under religious.  But, there is absolutely no difference.  The end result is the same—submitting to the traditions of men instead of the way/will of God.  And when that happens—when we live by the traditions of men, we set aside the wishes of God. 

How have we come so far in the traditions of men and so far away from the way/will of God?  How did this tradition start?  As Tevye said in Fiddler on the Roof, “I’ll tell you—I don’t know.”  But, I do know, we cannot have both—traditions of men and God’s wishes.  Jesus said in V.13, “Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.”

CONCLUSION:

            So, what do we do?  We are all part of this society.  We want to fit in, don’t we?  But, what do we do when society puts so much pressure on us to live by the traditions of men?  The answer is: no matter what—no matter how great the pressure—WE MUST LET GOD’S WORD BE THE AUTHORITY IN OUR LIVES!  We cannot waver on that!

            As I was driving home from vacation, last week, I was listening to a Christian call-in show on the radio.  A lady called in to a pastor to say her daughter was living with a man and they had a child together.  The daughter wanted the mother to accept her living arrangement.  The mother asked the pastor what she should do. 

That wise pastor said, “Tell your daughter that you love her very much.  And, tell her you want to/will have a relationship with her.  But, also tell her that God’s word is/always will be the authority in your life.” 

            That is what I want us to leave with, this morning.  When those who live their lives by the traditions of men come to us and want us to accept their behavior.  Or, they want us to join in their behavior.  We should love them; we should have a relationship with them; and we should let them know that God’s word is/always will be the authority in our lives. 

            We don’t want to live by the traditions of men.  We want to live by the way/will of God.