Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” Matthew 15:1-9
In the Gospel records Jesus responded to
people consistently, no matter who asked the question. Or, more accurately, Jesus responded specifically,
depending upon how questions were asked. In this case, the lawyers were interrogating
with a loaded question, intended to put Jesus in His place. It worked; as Jesus answered, it was obvious
he owned the high ground, and turned the question right back on the pompous
attitude the Pharisees owned.
The side-lesson here is that you’d
better get prayed-up, and humbled-down before you ask God a question. If you go to Him demanding He defend what
He’s doing, you’re in for a rough ride.
You’ll fare much better if you go, humbly, truly seeking answers for how
to rightly understand something, or how you can honor God with what you don’t
understand.
I’ve watched enough police dramas over
the years to have picked up a few of Sherlock Holmes’ human nature maxims about
criminals. In an ongoing investigation
by police many criminals cannot stand not knowing what their opposition knows,
so they attempt to implant themselves into the process. The Pharisees are a study in this
concept. They are as guilty as can be in
having ignored God’s ways for so long they cannot see their own sin. Still, they enter the arena with a question
that opens the door for Jesus to expose the so-called wise leaders and
teachers of the law who accuse Jesus of what they, themselves are
doing. Criminology -101 tells us the Pharisees are
rattled by Jesus’ lack of convention, but they make a rookie mistake for
Marxist wannabe’s, they attack Jesus’ motives without protecting their own
flank.
Jesus’ answer moves the debate quickly
from a neglected handwashing tradition to neglecting aged parents, fueled by greed,
and accomplished with lies. Jesus turns
the Pharisees’ game on its ear by upping-the-ante a
hundred-fold. And it put the Pharisees
on the defensive; in the next several chapters of Matthew the debate goes badly
for the elders and rulers, and the final plan of finding a way to silence Jesus
permanently becomes the final nail in their ethical and spiritual coffins. Ironically, it also becomes the key to how
Jesus would offer God’s grace to all humanity – they choose a cross to silence
a Savior!
For You Today
Which is more
important, man’s preferences, or God’s Word?
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky
Road; have a blessed day!
Title image: Pixabay.com W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Matthew 15 see: Offended Pharisees and
Parading Lies as Truth
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