Lesson for June 2, 2021
The Life of Christ
Traditions of Men Rebuked by Jesus
(Matthew 15:1-28; Mark 7:1-37)
Once again, a group of Jewish religious leaders came to investigate Jesus and His ministry. When they arrived on the scene, they observed the disciples of Jesus not keeping the Jewish tradition of ceremonial washing before a meal. As was always the case with the Pharisees, they took the opportunity to question Jesus about this supposed violation.
This Jewish tradition of washing the hands was much more to the religious Jew than merely removing the dirt before eating. As with most Jewish traditions, they included them as a part of the Law, when in reality their traditions had nothing to do with God’s Law. However, violating the tradition according to the Pharisees was tantamount to breaking the Law. Their practice of ceremonial washing was a “show” for others to see – to show how “holy” they were. There actually was a law having to do with the washing of the hands by a priest. If a priest came in contact with certain defiled objects, they were required to wash their hands. However, the Pharisees subverted this law into a legalistic practice of washing before any meal like a surgeon preparing for surgery. The fists must be clinched and raised so that all water ran onto the wrist and not back onto the hand. As was always the case with the Pharisees, they majored in the letter of the Law and ignored the spirit or true intent of the Law.
The Jewish leaders didn’t stop with the washing of the hands; they made their traditions include a ceremonial washing of the pots, pitchers, cups and utensils before the preparation and eating of a meal. This took place after coming from buying their food at the marketplace. As we have often observed, the Jewish religious leaders were steeped in their manmade traditions and consistently distorting the Law of Moses.
Jesus made their subversion of the Law very clear and by illustration made it clear to all who were listening that these Pharisees and Jewish leaders were hypocritical. Jesus first cited the prophet Isaiah and applied it to these hypocritical Pharisees. Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13, which says “Forasmuch as this people draw near to me with mouth and honor me with their lips but remove their hearts and minds far from me, and their fear and reverence for me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition without any thought as to the meaning” (ritual without reality). In other words, these Pharisees gave “lip service” to the commandments of God and taught their traditions as God’s Word. By doing this these Jewish leaders and all who followed them exchanged God’s truth for man’s traditions. The rejection of God’s laws was a logical thing to do according to Mark 7:9 since their desire was to establish their own tradition as part of the Law.
The illustration that Jesus used to expose the true nature of the Pharisees was how they evaded their lawful obligation to care for their parents by claiming that any money they had was a gift to the Temple. By saying this money was pledged to the Temple, the Pharisees could keep their money from their parents since their parents would not want to steal from God. If these Pharisees had been really sincere about keeping the Law, they would have obeyed it by taking care of their parents. By scheming not to help, they were violating the Law. This same tradition was taught to their congregations, causing the Law of God to be of no effect in the lives of those who followed this teaching.
We also have many traditions of men that churches teach as the Word of God.
- Water baptism for salvation, which includes infant baptism
- Speaking in tongues as a sign of salvation or spirituality
- No smoking and no drinking alcohol
- Asceticism – denying or hurting yourself to atone for sin
- Human good works for salvation or spirituality
- Praying out loud as a group or to be see of others
- Public “repentance” (by which some mean an outside show of remorse for sin). This includes walking the aisle to profess your faith in Christ.
- Witnessing quotas (you must share your faith with 10 people per day in order to be spiritual)
- Confessing your sins to another human being like a priest
- Dietary restrictions (ex. making certain foods taboo for the believer)
- Tithing or pledge cards
- Genuflection (bowing and/or crossing yourself before a statue)
- Trying to impress God with your manner of life, money, church attendance or reformation of the devil’s world.
- Saying that you must do good works to keep from losing your salvation.
- Telling others how they must act, dress, talk forcing certain taboos on others to be spiritual.
- Teaching principles of divine establishment as a part of the Christian life leading to legalism.
Legalism is performing human good works in an attempt to gain the favor or the approval of God, either for salvation or spirituality. Producing human good brings glory to man. Producing divine good through the filling of the Holy Spirit brings glory to God. Human works added to faith in salvation cancels grace. (Galatians 2:16) Human works added to the Christian life produces legalism and cancels grace. (Galatians 5:1) The opposite of grace, therefore, is legalism. (Romans 11:6)
Galatians 5:1 says to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (the Law of Moses). Liberty means that Christ has set us free from law-keeping and legalism (the yoke of bondage). He accomplished this by introducing a new covenant between God and man called Grace.
Under God’s grace policy certain principles or divine laws were established to ensure the function and the perpetuation of the human race. These principles or laws are called the Laws of Divine Establishment and are given by God to believers and unbelievers alike. Within these laws there is no discrimination based on race, nationality, gender, or any other factor. God’s laws of divine establishment apply equally to all members of the human race. This means that anyone, believer, or unbeliever, can have a somewhat peaceful, happy life if they apply these principles. On the other hand, failure to abide by these principles or laws by individuals or nations brings only disaster.
The Leaven of the Pharisees
(Matthew 15:29-39; Mark 8:1-38)
Departing across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus was once again confronted by a group of Pharisees. On this occasion, the Pharisees attempted to get Jesus to perform a miracle as a “sign” that He was the Son of God. Jesus had performed many miracles through the region of Galilee and this request by the Pharisees to see a miracle was insincere and was meant to tempt Jesus to do a miracle with the wrong motive. It is very likely that Satan was behind this request in an attempt to entice Jesus into committing a selfish act by performing a miracle (just for show). The implication was that if Jesus would perform a miracle, the Pharisees would accept Him as the Messiah. We know that they were not being honest, but that they simply wanted to trap Jesus.
After Jesus departed by ship to the other side of the sea, Jesus charged His disciples to beware of the false teachings of the Pharisees and Herod. The term Jesus used for these false teachings was “leaven.” Leaven is used most often in the New Testament for error mixed with accurate doctrine. Leaven is used in the sense of corrupting anything that is good. Adding a little leaven to dough leavens the entire loaf of bread. In the same manner, adding a little false doctrine to accurate doctrine corrupts the entire doctrine. This was what Jesus was warning His disciples about. (I Corinthians 5:7-8)
Peter’s Great Confession
(Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-33)
After the warning regarding the leaven of the Pharisees, Jesus came to the coasts of Caesarea Philippi. Upon arrival, He asked His disciples who were men saying that He was. As a group, they said that some were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah and others one of the prophets (from the Old Testament). Jesus then asked the disciples, “who do you say that I am.” Of course, impetuous Peter answered first and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The good news was that Peter got it right. He had learned Who Jesus was by following Him and learning from Him. Jesus praised Peter for his right answer and explained that this knowledge had not come from some form of academic learning from another human being, but this knowledge had been revealed to Peter by God (truth that had been taught by Jesus).
Now we have a very famous but often misunderstood verse. Matthew 16:18 says, “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Some claim that this verse refers to the fact that the universal church (all believers in the Church Age) was founded on Peter. However, Peter makes it clear that this is not the case in I Peter 2:4-9 (a book that he wrote). Peter says that the rock upon which the Church is built is Jesus Christ. What Jesus did was use a play on words in Matthew 16:18. The Greek word translated Peter is “petros” and means a small stone. The rock upon which the Church would be built is the Greek word “petra” and means a mass of rock. Peter was not the huge rock; the huge rock was Jesus upon which the Church would be built.