Human Traditions and God’s Word
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” (7:1-8)
What was disturbing to the Pharisees is that they invoked God’s authority to support all their traditions, and that I did not approve these very traditions and yet manifested in many ways God’s authority. Many people confuse God with a biblical text, thus pulling out of this text or of the whole Bible principles that become absolutes. The Biblical text spoke about me, yet the Pharisees refused to believe in me. Their system was very elaborate, and they could apply their system of laws even if God did not exist. It is a kind of theoretical faith which is yet a practical atheism. This problem exists also in modern Christianity. The commandment of God is to love God, to listen to Him and to obey Him. Many limit their obedience to a text, instead of coming to my living Father. The Father is not looking for people who worship him in a stone temple or through a text only. He is looking for people who worship him in spirit and in truth, who really come to encounter Him and listen to Him. In Hebrew, the same verb means both ‘to listen’ and ‘to obey’. In your translations of the Bible, this is difficult to see, so that people often focus on obedience to a text where it is listening to the Father that is meant. When people focus on the Biblical text and don’t learn to listen to us, they practically abandon the commandment of God and end up holding to the tradition of men. There are so many studies of the precise meaning of each Greek or Hebrew word, of the context for each of the stories of the Scriptures, yet all this is meaningless if people forget that I am alive, that I still desire to speak with each of the children of the Father. When I said to my disciples that I was with them until the end of the age, I was serious, and I was not planning to be just watching passively. I was telling them that they could come to me, that they could speak with me and hear me speak to them, that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things. Our purpose is not to just help people understand the texts of Scripture. The goal of the creation is not contained in a text, but in God. I love to explain to believers what I meant in the Gospels, yet the Gospels ultimately witness about me. When you don’t learn to listen to me and to the Father, your faith will rely on traditions of men, on elaborate commentaries of Scriptures. These commentaries and traditions often attempt to replace the living teaching of the Holy Spirit with principles that are like a burden that no one can fully carry. The Scriptures witness about me, therefore when you read these texts I invite you to come to me and to learn with me, to listen to me and to the Father.
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) - then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (7:9-13)
As if interpreting wrongly the Scriptures was not enough, they also contradicted what the Father taught in the Scriptures, allowing people to replace the care for their parents by money people would give to the temple. The commandment to honor father and mother implies that the children will take care of their parents when they are old. This is still important today in many cultures. Replacing this care for elderly parents by money given to the temple - or to a church - is clearly opposed to the Father’s commandment. Such traditions empty the Scripture from their meaning.
When people don’t come to us, don’t learn to love us and to love their neighbor through the Holy Spirit, they will risk not only to wrongly interpret Scriptures but also to contradict these very Scriptures with their traditions. I am the Living Word, and the written Word leads to me and to the Father. Respect and meditate the Scriptures, but don’t let your head think that you have mastered the Scriptures. Keep a humble heart, don’t become haughty and full of knowledge. The real knowledge that we seek in a heart is a knowledge of love, learning to listen and not only speak, learning to serve and not only to master. In your world, people like to learn to speak well, but not often do they learn to listen well. Listening to me is the foundation of eternal life. The Father is not looking for sacrifices but for listeners, for people listening to us and following our direction. Don’t let traditions replace the fresh voice of God, don’t replace the teachings of the Holy Spirit with the dissection of Biblical texts. Reading Scriptures without listening to us is of no profit. Learn to read the Biblical texts and to come in a prayerful attitude to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, to listen to me, to listen to the Father. This is the goal of these texts, to bring you to God, to develop in you the faith that God speaks still today, that you have been created to learn to listen and to live with us. There is no real love possible for the one who does not learn to listen. The one who loves me is the one who listens to me and who puts it into practice. That is what I taught my disciples during my time on earth, that is what I still teach to my disciples today. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (7:14-23)
In the time of Moses, the Father taught the people of Israel how to be careful about what they ate, as a way to teach them to listen to Him. The purpose what for them to learn to love Him and to obey Him. Yet, people tended to obey to written rules without any concern for the real purpose of these rules, which was to learn that the creation belongs to God. When I came, I reminded people that what really defiles people is what is in the heart. In the past, respecting the rules about what to eat was intended to show the respect for the Father. Yet, it was from the beginning a matter of the heart. As the Good News was coming now to the whole creation, and not only to the people of Israel, these rules were no more necessary. What was necessary and fundamental was the attitude of the heart. What really defiles people is the selfishness and impurity that comes from an evil heart. Without the purification of the Holy Spirit, humans have evil hearts that are bent on selfish desires. It is more apparent in some, yet all need our help to be purified. I came to bring such purification. All those who come to me by faith, who receive the Good News and accept to listen and to obey to me as their Savior and Lord will see the purity of the Holy Spirit visit and renew their hearts. They will discover that nothing is impossible to God.
As Paul said, the law came like a schoolmaster, giving directions about what the Father wanted. With Moses, since people refused to listen directly to the Father and preferred to listen to Moses, the law came, and now through me the fullness of grace and truth is manifested. Grace is the gift of the Father’s love. The truth is that the human heart is in dire need of purification, and that this is done only by grace, through trust in me. Come to me, I am the way to the true and eternal life. I died for you, I gave my life so that you may receive life, and have it in abundance. I am the good shepherd, I came to lead you to the Father’s love. Learn from me, listen to me, follow me.
No comments:
Post a Comment