Truth or Tradition

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

TRUTH OR TRADITION

Mark 7:1-4

7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

NIV

Tradition is good in some sense, but it can also be a hindrance to truth. The Pharisees were certainly about adhering to tradition, but what we should be asking is where did all that tradition, all that ceremonial activities comes from. All we know from this passage is tradition coming from the elders. This is meant that it was not part of the written law which Moses recorded from the mouth of God. It is a tradition which was passed down from father to son. Some scholars believe that Moses did indeed tell Joshua and he in turn passed it on to the Judges they to the kings thus it being a pure unwritten law, but in actuality it was but a tradition, with no actual God inspired law which had to be obeyed. It would appear that even today they is much tradition practiced which holds no resemblance to what God desires from us. We have established patterns of worship which may have nothing to do with the truth. We know that we should worship God in spirit and in truth yet certain songs that we sing have some truth, but they also have some false theology within the words. It seems that we have to adhere to the tradition view of how church is conducted, even down to how we think the sanctuary should appear. Some have the traditional view of the need for a cross, some have the tradition of a plan unadorned sanctuary. Those who break from tradition and design a wild or modern area for gathering are seen by some as breaking with tradition, and being unspiritual. We all have some perception of what tradition church should be like, but is any of it based on scripture? Is the way we do church based on truth or tradition, if the answer to that question is the later, than we must ask, if we are in any other way similar to the Pharisees? Do we hold on to what we think the elders did? What made the elders right if there was no written law to follow? We must seek God in spirit and in truth, keeping tradition simply for what it is. So we must always be aware of truth or tradition.