We Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that
We Make Traditions that Matter
Mark 7:1-13

† I.H.S. †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you to value what you think, say and do, as they help you realize that God is with you!

The great questions

About once every two months, I get asked one of those questions that pastors, okay, this pastor, loves to hear. So if you want to make a pastor happy, or at least this pastor, ask him something like this.

“pastor, why do you/we bow to the altar when we approach it?”

“pastor, why do some people make the sign of the cross when we pray, or during the creed?”

“pastor why do we sing something every week? Like the Kyrie, or the Lord’s prayer or the Agnus Dei?” (what are those things anyway?)

You want to make a pastor happy, ask him why we do the things we do, for there should be a reason behind it!

If a pastor ever answers questions like that by saying “it’s tradition,” tell them that is not a good enough answer, you want to know why it’s tradition, why is it done today? And if you would like to change a tradition, perhaps it is good to understand why the tradition was treasured, prior to abandoning it.

But religious traditions are like our gathering in church this morning. It only has value if its chief purpose is to give people what they need to know – Jesus.

Otherwise, the traditions are like the traditions the pharisees tried to hold on to, and Jesus wasn’t too complimentary of those traditions!

Law – clinging to or expanding traditions without meaning

Listen to the exchange again

“So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “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.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”” (Mark 7:5–8, NLT)

Now, back then, there was no health department signs in the bathroom where it ordered that you must wash your hands before returning to work.

In the Old Testament, there were a number of times where you had to wash your body and clothes for ceremonial reasons, like in Numbers 19,

¹⁸  Then someone who is ceremonially clean must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. That person must sprinkle the water on the tent, on all the furnishings in the tent, and on the people who were in the tent; also on the person who touched a human bone, or touched someone who was killed or who died naturally, or touched a grave. ¹⁹  On the third and seventh days the person who is ceremonially clean must sprinkle the water on those who are defiled. Then on the seventh day the people being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe themselves, and that evening they will be cleansed of their defilement.
Numbers 19:18-19 (NLT2)

There is also a passage about the priest about to sacrifice, who has to wash his hands before he does. But anytime someone was defiled, usually involving touching blood or something dead, or for certain sins, there was a time of purification and at the end, water applied. Often it was by sprinkling, which eliminates the discussion about whether it was for a hygienic reason. The reason was to celebrate the cleansing by having a visible, tangible way to express it.

But over the years, the original meaning was forgotten as the process was expanded, to the point where it is described in the gospek. “⁴ Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. (and some manuscripts include dining couches)” Now, if those items touched blood, yes, there was a ceremonial reason to wash, but out of fear, they figured, we would just wash everything…then even wash hands before taking a piece of wheat from the plant and chewing on it.

It’s as if they said – since God said this was proper, let’s take it up a notch, without considering the impact it has on those who they demand obedience, as they make up these traditions.

So here is the lesson for us, Why do we have the traditions we insist on, why are they there, and therefore why should we treasure them.

Basically, how do they point us to Jesus, and the comfort and hope we find in Him.

If we can’t answer that, then, as Jesus quoted, “our hearts are far from Him, and our worship is a farce….

So what can we hand down?

So are there any good traditions? Are there things that we treasure in church that we must pass on, and must insist on?

There is only one thing to judge by, according to scripture,

⁵  He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. ⁶  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. ⁷  Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” ⁸  This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone. Titus 3:5-8 (NLT2)

Or as my deacon students are memorizing – the chief purpose of all ceremonies (traditions, pastoral care, worship, etc. ) is to give people what they need to know about Jesus.

This is what matters, this is what’s important.

Does remembering our baptism point to Jesus? Yes!

Does hearing our sins forgiven point to Jesus? Oh yeah!

Does hearing the word of God point us to Jesus? Yes!

Does the sermon point us to Jesus, our healer and hope? It certainly better

Does the Lord Supper point us to Jesus? Nothing does it better!

Does all this pointing to Jesus lead us to praise Him with our voices and worship Him with our lives? Yes!

This kind of praise and worship honors Him, and shows are hearts are His.. and our worship is meaningful, and real, for in it we confess the Lord is with us!

AMEN!