February 28, 2022

The Year of our Lord, Jesus Christ

Matthew 15:3

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

The occasion of this statement by our Lord is the time the petty-minded Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem accused the disciples of not washing their hands before they ate. Not washing their hands before they ate! Horrible! Terrible! Appalling! Inexcusable! All the time when these religious rulers made a pretense of prayer, faked their holiness, perverted the Scriptures, devoured homes from the widows, and even desired to kill, we should have known all along that the big issue was eating with dirty hands.

Jesus called them on it. He asked, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” He did not say that His followers were innocent of the crime of which they were accused. He made no defense for them. He did, however, state that they too were guilty of breaking the commandments of God. In the book of John (8:7) Jesus taught that only those without sin should cast stones at others. Which means, who are we to judge another, to his own master he standeth or falleth (Romans 14:4).

If not careful, we can fall into the same condemnation. Many times, we put our traditions above God’s commandment. Don’t believe it? You should, for it’s rampant.

Until Next Time,

William T. Howe, Ph.D.

PS. Yes, I stopped before I got into a lot of trouble. Illustrations abundant could have been listed in this daily devotion of individuals and churches placing their personal traditions above the commandments of God’s Word. But, in keeping with myself I didn’t. I will say this, I’ve dealt with certain traditions in my life and have attempted to bring them into submission to God’s Word, because I do not want this past statement of our Lord to be my future.