“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'”
Matthew 15:1-3
The tradition Jesus is talking about is the practice of people “devoting to God” that which might otherwise have been used to help to their parents. Honoring your parents was commanded by God, but the religious leaders allowed people not to help their parents if they devoted offerings to the Temple. Giving offerings at the Temple instead of providing for parents is the tradition that Jesus criticized in this passage.
This criticism of the Pharisees came in response to the Pharisees’ criticism of the disciples who did not wash their hands before they ate. Washing hands, like devoting offerings to the Temple instead of honoring parents, exalts religious tradition over what God actually desires of us.
Jesus was not commenting on the propriety of washing hands. We all know that washing our hands is a good thing. We wash off bacteria and other things that can cause illness. Cleanliness is a good thing, but Jesus is not commenting on cleanliness. He is commenting on the hypocrisy of exalting form (tradition) over substance. Quoting Isaiah, Jesus concluded:
“‘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.'”
Matthew 15:8-9 ESV
Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he consistently focuses on the importance of what is going on in our hearts. He prioritizes our hearts and our motivations over the things that we say and do, especially the religious things that make us look good to other people. Thus, Jesus concluded this encounter by telling the crowd:
“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Matthew 15:11
He isn’t saying that we can do whatever we want as long as our heart is pure. He is saying that the wrong things that we do and say proceed from the defilement in our hearts. Even doing the right things with the wrong heart is wrong. The root of our sin is not in the things that we say or do, but in our heart. The sinful things we say and do proceed from our sinful hearts.
Even if we do things that are right or seem right are wrong if we do them with impure hearts. For instance, when we say or do things because we want other people to hear or see them and think well of us, we are missing the mark.
I am thinking about these things because I have been continually impressed lately about the importance of the trajectory of the Bible. The trajectory of the Bible is important because we can mistake the Bible for a code of law – a book of rules – if we are not paying attention to what I call the trajectory of the Bible. The emphasis Jesus placed on the heart over the things that we say and do is an example of that trajectory.
Continue reading “The Trajectory of the Bible: from Grace to Grace”
