Poor Pharisees

I saw a quote of Jesus the other day that I had never noticed. Imagine that! :) Maybe it was intentional......like you, I don't get up in the morning hoping I can be confronted with an "in your face" truth of where I have failed.

In Mark 7, Jesus has just in my opinion given the Pharisees the most damning words he ever gave them, when he told them Isaiah had prophesied correctly about them:
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." That section is in Matthew also, but in Mark He goes one step more and adds: "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men". As if they didn't know what he was talking about, he goes ahead and gives them an example of how they don't follow the command to take care of their parents, because instead they adhere to their tradition of declaring "Corban". And the conclusion by Jesus is "Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down".

Ok, here comes the part I had NEVER noticed before. As if the damning words weren't enough, and the clear example was not enough, Jesus then twists the knife in their back by adding: "AND YOU DO MANY THINGS LIKE THIS". The Corban deal was not an isolated incident......he could have given them example after example. They knew that, but he wanted them to know HE knew it also!

Can our fellowship relate to this section of scripture? DUH! I don't know of ANY FELLOWSHIP that would be able to claim that these scathing words of Jesus wouldn't apply to some degree to their fellowship. Some may try and do like the people did in Acts 7 and cover their ears and yell at the top of their voices so they don't have to hear, but that will not make the truth go away. I hope we get to watch a video of that scene in Heaven. Haven't you seen little kids do that when they don't want to hear what their parents are telling them or a friend is telling them? The scene it makes me think about is the one from "Dumb and Dumber". Is that how foolish we look? Ah yeah, sadly it is. Like little spoiled kids.

So let's quit breaking the commands of God to hold on to our traditions. Let's show love and fellowship towards other believers who wear the name of Christ and recognize Jesus as their Savior, even if they don't have the same traditions we do with worship styles. God's will over tradition. If a group wants to have a sign that reads different than the one out in front of our building (yeah, even if they have had the audacity to change it from "us" to something different) let's love and fellowship them anyway. God's will over tradition. Let's quit using Sectarian language. God's will over tradition. Let's join in good works that are done in the name of Christ, even if those works didn't originate with us. God's will over tradition. Let's love more and judge less......God's will over tradition. Let's offer grace and inclusion as opposed to arrogance and exclusion.
God's will over tradition. Let's be known for our love and acceptance of hurting people instead of how we are the ones that are RIGHT all the time. God's will over tradition. Let's be known as the ones who make a difference in their community by being servants, instead of being known as the ones who think they are the only ones going to Heaven. God's will over tradition.

Why? Let me go out on a limb here and guess that we will be more effective in reaching a LOST world if we do it HIS way instead of "Holding on to the Traditions".
Do we have the faith to do it His way instead of ours? I will try if you will.

Let's take our hands off our ears and really listen to Him. Even when he says to us in 2005........"AND YOU DO MANY THINGS LIKE THIS".