Me being preachy.

"Why do you also transgress the commandments of God by your traditions?" Matthew 15:3

Sometimes we get more involved with following tradition, whether it is Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Buddhist, Muslim, or any other idea, that we miss the weightier matters. The scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus to complain about his disciples eating without washing their hands. There was a Jewish tradition that stated that before you ate you were to wash your hands up to the elbow. It came from a thought that there was a demon that resided on the hands and that when you ate, if your hands were not cleansed to the elbow, this demon would be consumed with the food and possess the person. The idea wasn’t necessarily that the disciples had not washed their hands at all, but that they had not done it to the elbow in accordance with the tradition and were thus opening themselves to demonic possession. Jesus then turned the tables on these religious leaders by pointing out that they were upholding tradition but that they were only doing it because that is what they were taught. They were not doing it for godly reasons, only because that was what they were told to do. In verses 8 and 9 of this chapter, Jesus points to their scriptures and tells them that they were mentioned in prophesy as those who would talk about God and go through all the motions of godliness but would lack the heart of a believer in the God they were talking allegedly talking to. He says that their worship was in vain and that they had replaced the love for God that they were supposed to have for the commandments of men.

We too can be guilty of this. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," we stick to our traditions and rituals. There is nothing wrong with this in itself. In fact, it can be good and healthy, putting us in touch with our roots and making us feel connected to others of our faith who share in the experience of the traditions. But, the thing to remember when we practice these traditions is that they are in all ways meaningless if we are not connected to the Being that they are to put us in remembrance of. When Jesus instituted communion, he said, "As oft as you do this, this do in remembrance of me". He wasn’t simply talking about when we get together with the others of our faith and eat a wafer or cracker and drink some grape juice or wine. He meant, "whenever you eat, whenever you drink, do it in remembrance of me". "Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." We get together in our circle of believers and hold a communion service, but we sometimes miss the fact that this is only a tradition and that what is really important is the God that it is to be done in remembrance of. If we do not have the relationship with God, the tradition is meaningless. All your prayers, all your sacraments, all your rites and rituals and motions are meaningless if there is no love for the One behind it.

"Why do you also transgress the commandments of God by your traditions?" A few chapters over, in chapter 22, Jesus’ followers ask him, "What is the greatest of the commandments?" He answers them, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind". If there is no love of the Lord, you can keep every other commandment in the bible and it will be for naught. Every tradition or law ever instituted can be kept in full, but if this one is not kept, there will be no reward for keeping the rest.

The point of all this was simply not to let the tradition overshadow the One it is meant to represent.

I’m off my soapbox.

Go in peace,
CCG