by Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy

5So 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?” 6He 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. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
– Mark 7:5-8
The Gospel is timeless. I wrote a similar topic on the same title on this paper and two other Baguio weeklies fifteen years ago. The gist of the article is still relevant though the present context provides wider and deeper application and appreciation. In our text we find Jesus embroiled in another controversy with religious authorities over what is truly important – what matters. The disciples have not washed their hands before eating, thereby failing to honor a ritual practice that makes Jews distinct from Gentiles.
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The scribes and Pharisees believe themselves to be protectors of historic tradition. Since the time of Abraham, the separateness, the distinctness of Judaism has protected Israel from absorption into surrounding cultures. During the years of Babylonian captivity and after conquest by Greeks and Romans, syncretism and assimilation, particularly in matters of faith, were a constant danger for Jews. Ritual strictures fended off pagan neighbors. For the scribes and the Pharisees, if something as seemingly trivial as hand-washing is discarded, will not other peculiarly Jewish institution, from ritual food laws to monotheism itself, soon follow?
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This is the context of the confrontation of Jesus with the Pharisees and Scribes. These two were Jewish religious groups that opposed Jesus and, at this point, were even seek to destroy Him. We discover here that they were devoted to various traditions handed down from their elders, including washing their hands and dishes. Now, you might be wondering, “What’s wrong with that? We should all wash our hands and dishes.” The Covid19 pandemic remains unabated and medical professionals repeatedly tell us to wash our hands frequently to help stop the spread of the virus.
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The problem isn’t with the washing itself but with what they thought the washing accomplished. Today, we say, “Wash your hands and dishes or else you will probably make yourself and others sick.” The Pharisees were saying, “Wash your hands and dishes in this particular way or else God will reject you.” We know this because of what they say in v. 5, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” The key word there is “defiled, (unclean)” which meant to be profane, impure, unholy, and unacceptable before God.
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For the Pharisees, washing hands and dishes was not merely a hygienic practice; it was a religious ceremony, a tradition of the elders passed on for generations, and something that was required for a person to approach and be acceptable before God. True righteousness before God meant adhering completely to all of the traditions of the elders, even the ones that went much farther than what God’s Word required. You can see how important these extra-biblical traditions were to the Pharisees based on the way they phrase their question, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mark 7:5). They were trying to trap Jesus and condemn Him not just for breaking tradition but for teaching others to do so. They didn’t ask, “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands before they eat?” They were passing judgment on Jesus’s disciples by stating that their hands—and, therefore, they themselves—were, indeed, defiled, impure, and unacceptable before God.
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Contemporary Christians are tempted to point fingers at denomination-bound churches, who have a particular type of service because “that’s the way things have always been done in our denomination.”
But to focus on that, to focus on the errors or peculiarity of others, would be to miss the central point of the passage. The fundamental sin is self-righteousness. If my response to this passage is, “Boy, now I know what’s wrong with all those other churches,” then I’m guilty of the sin mentioned here. And I become like the Pharisees, with a big plank sticking out of my eye.
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So examine your heart! How are your tradition-bound? Do you allow yourself to become annoyed when we sing a song in a style you don’t like? Do you look down on those who move — or don’t move — when they worship God? Are you breaking the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself because of a tradition for style of worship?
Many traditions are not bad in and of themselves, but — like handwashing — many traditions lose their meaning over time, becoming dry, brittle wineskins that don’t allow the expansive, dynamic new wine of a relationship with Jesus Christ to grow. Don’t let the traditions of men get in the way of your love for your neighbor!
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Last week I participated in a burial service done in the residence of the dead person. She died of natural cause (not COVID 19). Prior to the service the young priest-rector of the Parish took the pain of explaining that the early conduct of the service (7:00 AM!) and in the house rather that in the church; the butchering of a certain type of pig; the feeding of the people prior to the internment at the backyard are not the traditions or teaching of the church. The young priest explained that after conferring with the family and some of the elders who came from the ili for the burial found the rationale acceptable and convenient. Some of these are part of the ugali or tradition of the indigenous people and practical due to the restrictions of the COVID19 health protocols and of the early rains, the young priest clarified. However, acceptability and convenience should not water down nor contradict the teaching of the church about death and life after death, the priest emphasized.
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In his book entitled, “The Spiritual Journey of a Showbusiness Priest” Fr. Elwood Kiesser, a Roman Catholic priest wrote: “It was August 1967. To those outside the Church, the changes happening within the Church were very exciting. But to those inside, the changes were sometimes confusing. And those in authority were not always happy with those of us who were experimenting. “Bud,” barked Monsignor Ben Hawkes, Cardinal McIntyre’s arch-conservative hatchet man, into the phone. “I am shocked.” “About what?” I asked, on guard not to get sucked into his game. “I have before me a photo of you concelebrating Mass, allegedly with the Immaculate Hearts, allegedly on August 15, and you are wearing a crepe-paper chasuble.” “So?” I said nonchalantly as I could. “So what can I tell the cardinal? He’ll be very upset. It’s against the rules.” “Tell him anything you want, Ben. The atmosphere was very celebrative. Like a party. Crepe-paper vestments seemed very appropriate. Besides, there were not enough conventional ones to go around.”
“Appropriate, my eye. You’re supposed to wear cloth vestments. That’s what Rome wants.” “Really, Ben,” I answered, my blood pressure starting to go up, “with kids starving to death and the world getting ready to blow itself up, do you think Jesus wants us worrying about the kind of vestment we wear?”.”
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There was a story about a young man who came to a great rabbi and asked him to make the younger man a rabbi. It was wintertime then. The rabbi stood at the window looking out upon the yard, while the rabbinical candidate was droning into his ears a glowing account of his piety and learning.
The young man said, “You see, Rabbi, I always go dressed in spotless white like the sages of old. I never drink any alcoholic beverages; only water ever passes my lips. Also, I live a plain and simple life. I have sharp-edged nails inside my shoes to mortify me. Even in the coldest weather, I lie naked in the snow to torment my flesh. Also daily, I receive forty lashes on my bare back to complete my perpetual penance.”
As the young man spoke, a white horse was led into the yard and to the water trough. It drank, and then it rolled in the snow, as horses sometimes do.
“Just look!” cried the rabbi. “That animal, too, is dressed in white. It also drinks nothing but water, has nails in its shoes and rolls naked in the snow. Also, rest assured, it gets its daily ration of forty lashes on the rump from its master. Now, I ask you, is it a saint, or is it a horse?!?!”
Which is more important – what goes into us or what comes out of us? Which defines us more – our outside behavior or our inside motivation?
wear?”
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Tradition is defined as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.” Supplanting tradition, for the sake of gratuitous iconoclasm, is not what Jesus is all about. Jesus wants ritual laws to be superseded by ethical behavior. For Jesus what goes into a person’s body, whether kosher or not, is not nearly as important as what comes out of one’s mouth. Ethical behavior issues from heart, not from rites of purification.
Jesus teaches the scribes and the Pharisees in a graphic way that some things are important in the life of faith, and some are not. The task of believers is to determine which is which, to hear and heed the gospel, and to move on.
In our lives too, we are sometimes that way, tending to put more value to the superficial realities of our faith than on the substance and essence of it – which is love of God and love of neighbor. Our traditions, our practices, our rituals – these are important, for sure. But their importance is relative to their being expressions of what’s going on in our hearts. If these externals are expressions of a profound faith and love in our hearts, are worthwhile; if not, then they are more than hypocritical practices that signify absolutely nothing.
“Faith is never identical with piety.” – Karl Barth
Let us pray.
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Grant in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.**