Traditions of the day

Jesus broke with some of the traditional thinking of His day.  I'm just going to mention one example:

¹ Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
² "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat." ³ He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' ⁵ But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you would have gained from me is given to God," ⁶ he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

⁸ "'This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
⁹ in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

What Defiles a Person

¹⁰ And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." ¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" –Matthew 15:1-12 ESV

Jesus tells them that they should not be afraid about what they eat, or what they put into their mouths, but from what they say. He is showing them that it is their hearts that are evil. Nothing will last in the soul but the reconditioning benevolence of the Spirit of God. As well, nothing should be allowed into the church except that which is from God and, we shouldn't be upset any time when somebody speaks the truth. As was common, the disciples didn't get what Jesus meant at first. Yet, they wanted further clarification – which was evidence of their willingness and desire to understand what He taught them. We all have desperately sick hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and it is always first from the heart that our words and thoughts come. Jesus wants not "submission," in the sense of the do this or else... He wants us to humble ourselves, so that our hearts, and thus our words, will not convey wicked thoughts.

I'm first in line, guilty as charged.... Tweet