Washing Hands

"Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
Matthew 15:2

The pharisees added many laws onto the Law of God.

I find that so easy to identify with.

People tend to hold the pharisees at arm's length and say, "They were too insistent on their little Jewish traditions and their own made up rules that did not come from God."

Have you ever locked yourself into your own traditions and made-up rules?

How fervent are you about washing your hands?

Consider the young mothers who work tirelessly to sanitize their homes. Many of these mothers end up changing a diaper or two during the night ... and in the dark. In some cases the parent who wishes to keep his or her house clean comes to the troubling conclusion that human waste may have been spread around into unknown places.

What would a guest or outsider say if he or she noticed it?

Some parents respond to this realization by checking out of life. They continue to live in such a house and tend to their children, but they are simply robots caring out their tasks with expectation for little more than watching some comedy show at the end of their day.

They have ceased to live their own life.

How rarely we ask ourselves who has set these heavy conditions on us. Did God require us to sterilze and santize everything, or is that something we have decided to do on our own?

Technically speaking, sterization is a process of killing life. Most human beings in the modern world live sterile lives ... sure other people might be convinced they will not be infected, but -truth be told- the modern world is dead.

The most neurotic aspects of a man's life revolve around the laws and traditions he holds himself to.

Some teenagers refuse to leave the house until they have researched and found the exact clothes their friends will approve of. Some husbands spend their entire marriages doing nothing but finding ways to advance their careers and achieve greater salaries. Some women refuse to allow guests over until they have vacuumed and dusted their entire house.

I am rarely able to tear myself away from my car or house unless I have locked it (at least once).

The laws we hold ourselves to are far more complex and exhaustive than the laws of any government. Is it so hard to see how we are confined to a prison of our own making?

What I find to be even more disturbing is the way we justify our psychotic behavior (for that is exactly what it is) in the name of Jesus. We tell ourselves that chasing our tails and panicking while teaching Sunday school is worrying and despairing for God.

In other words, we are doing in God's name the very thing He has commanded us not to do! Is there any wonder how people make disciples who are twice as much sons of hell as they are?

Jesus responded to the pharisees by contrasting the suffocating complexity of their laws with the simple and liberating Law of God. Jesus emphasized the simple command the pharisees had forgotten: honor your father and mother.

When Martha told Jesus to rebuke Mary because she was not cleaning the house (and instead spending time at the feet of Jesus), the Lord told Martha that God only requires one thing of us.

Only one thing!

Think of all the rules and laws we set aside for ourselves ... saving money for our children's college, staying fit and healthy, doing our taxes, keeping a budget, staying paid up on five kinds of insurance ... and to say only one thing is required? How strange and yet how wonderful.

Jesus did not teach people to stop washing their hands and cleaning their houses, but he did want people to be righteous in the righteousness of God ... and not in the superficial certification of following human rules.

As we go about our day, may we rely on Christ to teach us about the true obedience he desires. May we become disciples of God's Way, and not the prisoners of human misdoings and empty striving.

The Divided Priests Before The Crowd

When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
"The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, `From heaven,' He will say to us, `Then why did you not believe him?'

"But if we say, `From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet."

And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Matthew 21:23-27

Jesus often spoke to his listeners indirectly, and he rebuked them indirectly.

As readers of this passage we may be tempted to set the passage aside and say, "Ah! What a clever way to respond ..." Or to dwell on the comic aspect of the passage -the way the priests were exposed as buffoons.

The true followers of Christ on the other hand must be watchful so they are not mislead by the shallow interests of the crowd. Jesus showed himself to be wise, but in the very wisdom the wise overlook.

His questions compelled the teachers of Israel to admit they did not know, but not because Jesus made a drawn out display of how many things he knew.

The standing of the priests were brought into question, yes, but it was not Jesus tearing them down -he merely exposed the way the priests had defeated themselves.

As Kierkegaard noted, many people claim to "admire" the lives of great men, but Christ has called his followers to imitate him. In what regard does the serious follower of Christ learn how to imitate Christ from reading this passage?

Jesus asked one question from his audience. He was not trying to make a historical assertion about John the Baptist ... he was bringing into question why the priests did not have the seriousness to believe the message of John the Baptist.

This was a question the priests were not able to answer precisely because of their disobedience.

The man or woman who follows Christ must always be able to bring into question how serious people are in their claims ... even if they appear to be very pious people. A truly committed person will be able to answer such questions simply and in earnest.

The unrighteous are divided by such questions.

I sometimes hear people make assertions about how loose living and dark deeds will give them something in life. Every believer will also struggle with their own thoughts and feelings saying exactly the same thing.

Such a person should be called into question about how closely they will hold these views in the hour of hardship when these pursuits have brought them suffering and bitterness. How deeply can they hold such views in one moment if they wish to discard them the next moment?

The pharisees were ready to discard their own views before they had even given them to Jesus.

And their attention to the eyes of the crowd prevented them from giving a solid answer to Jesus.

Jesus would have fully presented the will of the Father with his question regardless of how many people were watching him. His question about the authority of John would have had exactly the same intent if he was alone with the chief priests.

The priests would never have asked the question if they were alone with Jesus. In fact, Jesus tells us that everything they did was to be seen by men.

Their attention to the crowd (and how to please the crowd) prevented them from speaking their mind. Their refusal to answer Christ's question reflected the division in their hearts. Christ's intent was of one thing, even when it meant dying on the cross.

In the same way we must ask ourselves if our devotion to Christ is one thing in the church building and another thing in the moment weakness and temptation.

The believers who would seek to imitate Christ must learn how to ask others (and more importantly, themselves) how seriously they hold to their views, and they must be able to overlook the eyes and ears of the crowd.

As surely as God clothes the lilies of the field to be more beautiful than the robes of Solomon, God displays the legitimacy of His children to the world as they become more like His Son.

May we seek first to become like God's Son and the other things will be given to us as well.

After The Plans

Every neurosis is a symptom of despair.

A little boy spent a week saving up money to buy his favorite comic book. As he was heading to the comic book store another boy stopped him and offered him a candy bar for the money he had with him to buy the comic book. "And I also have these," He said, pointing to some beans. "These are magic beans. If you throw them in a bath tub full of water they will turn into mice." The boy took his offer. When he got home he immediately tossed the beans into the bath, and waited for some time. After his mom explained to him that he had been duped, he examined the beans and said to himself, "I was ready to buy my favorite comic book, but all I have are these watery beans."

The mind of man plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

When you wake up wake up!
The Sound of Music