Traditions!

One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don't eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, "Why don't your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony." Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.' For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition." Then he said, "You skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.' But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, 'Sorry, I can't help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.' In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others." Mark 7:1-13 (Underlined for emphasis.)

Meditate on worship.

 

It probably took about seven hours for those Pharisees to walk from Jerusalem to Capernaum, where Jesus and His disciples were staying. Those Pharisees were observant, judgmental people. Do you think they were a bit boastful themselves? They were probably thinking… “Look at me…I do everything right…I follow all the laws, beginning with washing my hands before meals. I am holier than thou.” The Pharisees didn’t come to see Jesus to learn from Him, but to criticize and rebuke Him.

Hand washing station in a Jerusalem hotel.
Follow the tradition--the ritual of pouring water over one's hands.

Well—it was the Pharisees who got rebuked. Traditions! Can’t you just hear that song from “Fiddler on the Roof?” Traditions! The Pharisees were following traditions, not God’s law. The directives given in Leviticus were mainly for the priests—but the Pharisees changed them to apply to everyone and apply to other instances, not just rituals of sacrifice and purification. Still, to this day, some Jews observe hand-washing traditions. You will see hand-washing stations at hotels, restaurants, and even at the Wailing Wall.

Jesus called the Pharisees out on their changing of God’s commands. They weren’t honoring their parents with the Jewish tradition of giving money to the synagogue or Temple instead of taking care of their parents. What kind of loving treatment is that? I continually keep remembering discussions Jesus had about “Love God. Love others as ourselves.” Honestly, would those Pharisees want to be treated the way that they were encouraging others? Would they want to be neglected instead of respectfully taken care of? Of course not! But they could afford an expensive nursing home—wait! They didn’t have nursing homes in Biblical times, did they? You can be assured that those Pharisees weren’t concerned about elderly parents…or even themselves when they got old. They just wanted to discredit Jesus and His disciples. Jesus could see them for the hypocrites they were. Do you see them as that?

What do we learn about Jesus from this scripture passage today?

 

Prayer – Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we would see ourselves as You see us.

 

Verses of Salvation ~ So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:19-21

 

© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.