Week 22 Day 1

April 25, 2022

Jesus Teaches on Legalism

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-11, Mark 7:1-15 (NIV)

Matthew 15:1-11
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 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 their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 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 merely human rules.’ ” Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Mark 7:1-15
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

Devotional

For some people, religion has three ingredients. Rules. Regulations. Rituals.
But becoming a follower of God is not simply about keeping the right appearances – ceremonial hand washing, eating kosher foods, wearing the right clothes, singing the right hymns or praise choruses. You get the idea. The list goes on and on.

The rules of legalism are usually made by the legalists. The Pharisees were a sect of the Jewish religious establishment who made their mark by setting rules for others to follow. They had developed over 600 religious regulations that had to be followed to the letter by every Jewish person within their reach. Their battles with Jesus on what was and was not allowed on the Sabbath are epic. Here, they challenged Jesus and His disciples over their rules about ritual purification through washing. They asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” (Matthew 15:2).

Jesus responded to their pointed question with an even sharper question, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:30). He highlighted their hypocrisy of ignoring one of the Ten Commandments to honor their father and mother by taking the money that should be used for elder care of their parents and claiming it as Temple gift. Talk about a religious loophole. Jesus made it clear that authenticity is expressed from the inside-out, as is our inauthenticity. And He made it even clearer what God thinks about these empty rituals when He quoted from Isaiah 29:13,

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’