Then some 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 bread.” 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 6 he is not to honor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:
8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
9 And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
10 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand! 11 It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”
12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” 13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone; they are blind guides of blind people. And if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
Striving to be clean and pure is healthy, helpful and good, but it is only in Jesus' forgiveness and salvation that we can be seen by God as holy, pure and righteous! Being obedient is good, helpful and important, but only when we have entered into a personal relationship with the Lord God, and we are then being obedient because of God's love for us and our love for Him! Respecting manmade traditions is okay, as long as they do not conflict or supersede God's commandments and guidance. And maintaining healthy relationships and love for others is important, but no one should ever be considered more important than our relationship with the Lord God!
It is very helpful to keep in mind that the closer we grow to the Lord, and the more we strive to live in His will, the better our relationships will be with others... unless, of course, someone hates us because we are living for the Lord! In those cases, what should we be doing? From other verses in the Bible, we know that we are to love and pray for them. And IF any opportunities present themselves, we can (in God's love and guidance), speak God's truth, of His love, mercy and grace. But IF we find that they are only wanting to "discuss" in order to argue and change US... Jesus clearly tells His disciples (and us) exactly what to do!
We can see in verse 12 how the disciples were concerned by the fact that the pharisees had been offended by what Jesus said. OF COURSE Jesus knew that the pharisees felt offended; but His advice is simple... "Leave them alone!"
We should not be surprised or disturbed by this or think we have to fix things. "Leave them alone!" :
- don't try to stop them, and if they are your spiritual leaders, then it is time to find another church that is doctrinally sound
- don't argue with people like this (because it will accomplish nothing)
- don't try to change or convict them (because only God's Holy Spirit can do this)
- don't try to appease them in any way (because this will only lead us into compromising God's truth)
- do continue to love and pray for them!!!
- and in all things, put our relationship with the Lord God first in our lives!!!
