They worship me in vain, their hearts are far from me

They worship me in vain, their hearts are far from me

Scripture:

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.

Matthew 15:1-9

Observation:

In this passage, we see yet another encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the religious elite of Israel in that day. It starts off when they condemn the Lord’s disciples for not following the traditions of the elders by not washing their hands before they eat. Now, this act should not be misunderstood as merely a good practice for hygiene purposes. Instead, this was a special ritual washing instituted by the religious elite as an act of cleansing from a Jew’s typical interaction with money and Gentiles in the marketplace. It was just another man-made practice instituted as a show of one’s supposed personal holiness.

Amusingly, if the religious elite thought they were well justified in their condemnation, they must have been rudely shocked when the Lord straight away exposed the fallacy of their man-made traditions in one single stroke.  One of their strange traditions was to create a loophole for getting out of their responsibility to help their parents financially by saying it had been “devoted to God”. The Lord points this inconsistency out clearly and rebukes them for breaking the command of God for the sake of their tradition. He then goes on to call them hypocrites and quotes Isaiah’s prophecy on how they honor God with their lips while their hearts are far away, and make teachings that are merely human rules.

Application:

There are 3 main applications that seem to stand out here.

Firstly, the Lord reminds us of the great importance of honoring our parents. As the first commandment attached with a promise, the 5^th commandment instructed the Israelites to honor their father and their mother, so that they may live long in the land. In Ephesians 6, Paul repeats the importance of this command for us today, to honor our father and mother, so that we may live long on the earth. Now, we may not agree with everything our parents say or do or think, but in everything, we can be respectful towards them.

Secondly, we need to be careful regarding man-made traditions. In every culture, we have certain traditions and they are mostly good in a sense, for example the Chinese traditional emphasis on filial piety (devotion to parents) and being upright and hardworking. However, we need to weigh up the traditions we practice against the Word of God. In everything, obeying God is always more important than following traditions. In the Asian culture, many traditions have religious elements and many have to do with fear of offending spirits. We need to pray for wisdom in dealing with traditions, how to be sensitive yet firm in our convictions should some traditions be contrary to our faith.

Finally, our hearts are far more important than our words. Lip service is useless, and God does not value empty words at all. He always looks at the heart, whether we are genuine in really worshipping Him. We really need to pray that God will give us a heart of worship, focused upon the Lord instead of straying far away.

Prayer:

Praise thee, Heavenly Lord, for the great wisdom that You give us. Teach us O Lord, and give us a heart of compassion to always care for our parents and family members. At times when we become impatient, sustain us and give us Your special grace, that we too may show grace. In regard to traditions, teach us to differentiate right and wrong. Give us the wisdom how to show sensitivity and peace when dealing with those of different opinions.

O Lord, we know that You seek that which is innermost within us, our very hearts. O Lord, teach us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Teach us, Lord, to surrender our hearts to You. Forgive our iniquity. Lead our eyes and heart to seek You earnestly. Let us not worship only in words but having minds that go far astray. Let us learn to worship You deeply with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our strength! ,May Your name be praised forever. In Jesus name, Amen.