What might we regularly do, but can’t recall why? Thinking of the context within the church building and on a Sunday, I was thinking of:
- perhaps we bow down or bend the knee at a particular point of the service;
- get up ready to sing each hymn;
- say Amen at the end of all prayers;
- or the person who reads the Bible passage uses a form of words when they finish reading, such as “bless this reading of God’s word” as, if God wasn’t quite happy with what they’ve just read, would God change it in our brains?
Tradition is curiously peculiar thing.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘tradition’ means: a belief, principle, or way of acting that people in a particular group have continued to follow for a long time, or all of these beliefs, etc. in a particular group.
The Disciples under examination
In the Gospel reading for this week, according to what’s known as the Lectionary, are three sets of verses: Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15 and 21-23. One odd thing to mention is that Mark 7:16 doesn’t exist in many modern versions. In ancient manuscripts it reads “if any man has ears to hear, let him hear“, as per Mark 4:9,23. It was like a verse filler, just omitted in later versions here. This Gospel according to Mark was one of the earliest Gospels to be written down around 70 CE, possibly Mark and others writing down the sayings of Peter so that the early followers of Jesus could be encouraged. Why encouraged? It was written just after the Temple in Jerusalem had been ransacked by the Roman Empire. Wow, did they need encouragement at such a time.
Do we get it wrong sometimes?
The Pharisees have been on the look out for any inconsistencies in the ways of the disciples, and the disciples don’t fail to deliver. The disciples had been eating food without washing their hands. This wasn’t about not getting Delhi Belly – other bellies also exist – but there were old ways – from the Hebrew Scriptures – which told people what they needed to do each and every day. This could be a great lesson for many today. What was written down then, does not mean that we have to follow everything today. It was written for those circumstances, for those people, at that time.
The ways said that the Jews were to wash their hands by making a fist: I’m thinking by rubbing the fingers against the palm of your hand under water, to cleanse what you were going to use to pick up food – due to sheer absence of a fork here. They wanted everyone to follow tradition. Jesus says, powerfully, that they’ve put minor traditions before the major things of loving others. What’s our principle focus?
We might have attended an anniversary service or a memorial service for a battle in a war, albeit there’s little personal connection now with those who attend now, and that actual event. We might certainly commemorate those that died, but fail to recognise that we are doing this every year.
We fail to see that the anniversary was for a different time and people, and what are we doing today?
We fail to realise that WW1 was the ‘war to end all wars’ – where’s our actual response to war itself?
The source of all evil? – not what you might expect
Jesus then turns to the actual source of what drags us down. Note, that in Mark 7:21-22, he offers a far greater array of ‘ill reputes’ than Matthew 15:19 manages to write down. Jesus isn’t saying don’t wash your hands, but reflect upon what we do and why?
The Pharisees were keen to focus upon cleanliness or their purity code, how that external look can be to our inward detriment. See the direction of travel there? outward to inward. The modern church uses an old word ‘sacrament‘ : some churches have 2, others have 7. What matters is what it means: an outward sign of an inward transformation. Direction of travel: inwards to the outside. It is what is innermost which can cause us so many problems. Note, there is no mention of Satan, the Devil or the dark netherworld here.
In prayer, we often will ask for a wide variety of things to change – but, how often do we ask about ourselves? An Aberdonian evangelist once wrote:
The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with (or understanding of) Him.
It isn’t what we can get out of God, but that we are transformed by knowing God. The inward bit gets changed, which then makes the outward bit be changed. It is what comes from within us, that matters.
Our thoughts – it is our faith after all
So, what traditions might we now feel are meaningless, irrelevant processes we might follow because…we have always done that? Please take a few moments – or longer – to think through what we do, and why? Why do we believe this or that, if we have rarely even thought about it since the days of Sunday School?
Own our own faith.
How does the ways of Jesus liberate you in your own faith after reading and reflecting upon this?
I found it interesting
The tradition within the church is influenced by the culture in that part of the world generally, but they can always use the Bible to justify their actions.
Even today, there are traditional churches that do not allow women to be ministers – an idea based on Paul’s messages in the bible. Also, in some traditional churches, I noticed that holy communion was first given to all men and then women followed. The tradition of women covering their heads is common. Again, all of these are literally based on Paul’s messages.
As for standing while singing hymns – I think it’s not just a tradition, but it allows us to sing better 🙂 – heard there is some science in it.
I agree, an outward sign should be based on our inward transformation. The frequent use of “sorry”, “thanks” and “how are you?” in this world – I wonder if the direction is always inward to the outside.
I’m reading about Paul currently and wonder whether modern society is presuming that his letters were written to all rather than a bespoke set of people in their circumstances. In Corinth there was significant immorality which was part of everyday life especially when food was sacrificed to that particular god. Paul writes about the place of women in their circumstance and we seem to presume it applies everywhere. Does Paul get a hard press? I think so.
That’s interesting about the singing. I wonder whether those in the Middle Ages would have discerned the scientific link for singing. More reading to be done there.
Surely if everyone felt that the best thing when singing would be to stand up we would do it naturally, so why are we asked/encouraged to stand, and then sit afterwards? There are verses in the Psalms and Nehemiah that say that the people should stand in worship; was that in reference to them? Why do Germans sit to sing: this must be a cultural thing, surely?
Something to ponder when we respond : is it to feed us (inward) or to support others (outward)?
I think I read somewhere before about the science of standing while singing and have practically noticed it when I sing. Here is a link that supports it:
https://www.topsingingsecrets.com/blog/breathsupportsittingdown#:~:text=You%20have%20probably%20noticed%20that,to%20be%20out%20of%20alignment
Not sure about the German tradition, though. It was during the pandemic. I was there, and I did not get a chance to look for a church with services in English.
Paul in the bible supplemented the already existing gender bias in the world. I sort of disliked Paul from the time I read the Bible (since my childhood), for this very reason.
Agree with you that when we respond, it is good to ponder if it is to feed us (inward) or to support others (outward).
Perhaps Paul was answering the questions or points raised in their letters (which we don’t have) and so we don’t fully understand the context. I also read that in the Koine Greek of that time they didn’t use quotation marks. Hence a quote such as Women should not speak may come across as draconian to us but could be reciting what they suggested.