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1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 3 He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' 5 But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God—6 then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" ~ Matthew 15:1-9
Today, we transition into Matthew 15 where the Lord Jesus gets a visit from the Jewish religious leaders from Jerusalem who had traveled some 90 miles to confront Him. They were worried because His popularity with the people was growing at a rapid pace. They came to find a way to minimize the Lord because He was a threat to their religion. They were in danger of losing their power and control over the people. According to them the Lord Jesus and His disciples were not religious enough.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 'Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.'"
When the religious leaders saw that the disciples didn't honor the traditions of the elders by washing their hands in the prescribed ceremonial way, they confronted the Lord Jesus in hopes of turning the people against Him. They taught that the people had to hold their hands out, with palms up, hands cupped slightly, and pour the water over them. Then the fist of the other hand was to be used to scrub the other. This would have been done exactly and specifically with both hands. Then the hands again were held out, with palms down, and water was poured over them a second time to cleanse away the dirty water from the cleansed hands. Only then would a person's hands be ceremonially clean and to deviate from it would be sin according to the religious leaders.
The washing of the hands given by God in the Old Testament was a practice only meant for the priests while they ministered in the Temple. Later, the religious leaders expanded this practice to the common man so that he would wash his hands before a meal. At that moment cleanliness was elevated over godliness. The religious leaders had made it about the people's performance. They had lost sight of the fact that the message of salvation is the same throughout the Bible. Salvation or forgiveness of sin is a free gift from God for all willing enough to believe it and to receive it. It has always been about the object of our faith which is the God of the Bible, not us.
In v.3-6 of today's passage we read, "3 He answered and said to them, 'Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, "Honor your father and your mother;" and, "He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death." 5 But you say, "Whoever says to his father or mother, 'Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition."
The religious leaders of Israel had put their traditions over the commandments of God. Their silly rules didn’t aid anyone at obeying God. Their traditions actually steered the people away from God. The fifth command is that we honor our parents. Violating it was, according to God’s law, punishable by death. But, the religious leaders of Israel had invented another tradition which created a loophole to get out of obeying the fifth command. They had created a practice which allowed them to take money or property and declare it as set aside for the Lord. But they treated it like a tax-sheltered investment. Sadly, it wasn’t the government they were protecting the funds from but from their own parents. If their parents had a need, they could avoid meeting the need because their money was devoted to God. As a result, for the sake of their tradition they avoided obeying the word of God.
In v.7-9 of today's passage we read, "7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
The Lord Jesus offended the religious leaders by not following their rules and rituals. Using Isaiah 29:13, the Lord Jesus highlighted the result of tradition not rooted in the Word of God. He called it hypocrisy. Twenty-three times in the Gospels the Lord Jesus used this word. Twenty-one of the twenty-three times He spoke it to the religious leaders. He reserved that scathing term for religious, legalistic folk. The Greek word used in the New Testament for "hypocrites" describes actors on a stage. They wore masks and they played their parts but they really weren't what they projected; they were actors.
The remedy for hypocrisy is worship. Prayer is when we are preoccupied with our needs. Praise is when we are preoccupied with our blessings. Worship is when we are preoccupied with our God. Worship is ascribing worth to something or someone. It is authentic and it comes from the heart. And, it has been etched upon our hearts to worship God alone. As a result, when we worship Him, we will find ourselves being defined by Him, because what we worship defines us.
Hypocrisy ignores the word of God. The Greek word used here for "tradition" is the word for "substitution." And the substitute is always something "good." We would never think of offering God something bad! Yet, if it is not defined by Him as worship, it is not true worship. Much of what we call worship today would not be defined by God as worship. We are defined by what we worship rather than primarily by what they think, know, or even believe. We are what we love.
Worship is the response of the heart to the knowledge of the mind when the mind is rightly understanding and valuing God. Our worship of God is conditioned by the way we understand Him. And, if our understanding isn't framed up by His Word, we will lack proper worship of Him. The more we know Him, the more varied will be the ways that we will worship Him. Thus, our worship should increase with the growth of our understanding of God.
