HYPOCRITICAL
OBEDIENCE
Tenth
of twelve in Jesus’ Earthly Life & Ministry
Parallel Series
Isaiah
29:13, Matthew 15:7-9
Isaiah
29:13: “The Lord says, ‘These people
come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made
up of rules taught by men.’”
Matthew
15:7-9: “You
hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you: ‘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.’”
“Wash your hands and come to dinner,” ten year old Jeremy’s
mom called out. Jeremy had been smelling
her delicious pot roast cooking ever since he got home from school. His stomach was growling as he washed up for
dinner.
Today, we have many more germs than what were around during
Jesus’ time on earth. So now people are
used to washing hands frequently—especially during cold and flu season. But
that wasn't always the case.
Matthew 15:1-2 says, “Then some Pharisees and teachers of
the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the
tradition of the elders? They don’t wash
their hands before they eat!’”
Jesus’ disciples often snacked on the kernels inside heads
of grain as they walked with Him throughout the countryside (Luke 6:1). Naturally,
the Pharisees never missed an occasion to challenge Jesus. But Jesus was ready for them. Check it out:
“Jesus replied, ‘And why do you
break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’
and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father
or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift
devoted to God,’ he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake
of your tradition.’” (Matthew
15:3-6).
Jesus said the second opening parallel Scripture
immediately afterwards.
Was Jesus correct?
Check out the lesson linked below to see more of Jesus’ teachings (about
clean and unclean).
Take Home Nugget
Jewish
rabbis interpreted the laws of Moses, and often misinterpreted them. They began making up fussy rules about people’s daily lives. See Mark 7:1-4. These “traditions” were handed down from generation
to generation by word of mouth. They
were never written down.
Thus, these “traditions” were not
from God! So, on whose authority were
they to be kept? Jesus called them out
on these phony traditions
Holy
Father, help us to never get bogged down with phony man-made rules! But help us to sincerely obey You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A
personal, private lesson experience with our staff
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