Over the past twenty years, the study of “comparative religion” has become a significant enterprise. As more and more religious faiths are represented in Britain in significant numbers, and as communications around the world have opened up, we feel it is important that people have a basic grasp of the religions of the world and how they differ from one another. Most GCSE RE syllabuses now focus on this, and the emphasis is on the various practices, customs and rituals of each religion. Compare, and contrast.
Even within Christianity, the denominations are usually differentiated in this way. Do they baptise babies? Do they meet on Saturday or Sunday? Do they use liturgies in their corporate worship? And so it is that you go to a different church one week, perhaps you are on holiday, and you find yourself wondering: “Why did they do it that way?”. And maybe you even find some of the traditions and customs of our own church baffling. Maybe you sometimes find yourself wondering: “Why do we do it this way?”.
In Mark chapter 7 we have a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees where we get the chance to listen in. What we discover is that these considerations, the ways in which we compare the world’s religions, are of second-order importance.
The Pharisees ask Jesus why it is that his disciples do not follow the traditions of their elders when it comes to a particular kind of ritual hand-washing. They’ve noticed that the disciples don’t do this particular thing, so they ask Jesus why not.
Look closely, you’ll see that their question actually divides into two distinct questions. Firstly they ask how the disciples can ignore the tradition of the elders. Why is it that they don’t fall into line? But they are also asking why it is that the disciples don’t wash their hands in this fashion. The Pharisees think that there are good reasons for the practice of ceremonial hand-washing, and want to know why the disciples don’t.
Question 1: Why do they not walk according to the traditions of the elders? Question 2: Why do they not wash their hands?
Jesus answers both their questions, one after the other. And both of his answers point to one central truth. That key truth is this: Real religion is about God, not about other people. Real religion is about God not other people.
Jesus starts his answer by quoting a verse from Isaiah chapter 29, and he then elaborates. Let’s look at the two answers Jesus gives to the Pharisees.
Listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men.
Here’s the first thing Jesus tells them: Listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men. Listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men.
Jesus answers the first half of their question. “How is that the disciples so freely ignore the traditions of the elders?”, they ask. The answer is: Listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men.
Jesus is picking up on the second half of that verse from Isaiah: “They teach as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Jesus says that there are two distinct voices we can listen to in life. Voice number one: The word of God. Voice number two: The traditions of men. And he says we should listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men.
There is a key difference between those two voices, and that is where what they have to say comes from. Their origin is fundamentally different. One is human and one is divine. The word of God comes from God himself; the traditions of men come from other people just like you or I.
Did you notice how those two very different origins were emphasised in what Jesus said? One the one hand we have what he refers to in verse 8 as “the commandment of God”, and in verse 13 as “the word of God”. On the other hand, we have what he refers to in verse 8 as “the commandments of men”, and in verses 9 and 13 as “your tradition”.
And the fact that these two voices come from such fundamentally different places means that the Pharisees have been making two serious mistakes. And when we remember that one voice is human and one is divine we see just how serious these mistakes are.
Here’s their first mistake: They let go of what God says in order to keep their tradition. They let go of what God says in order to keep their tradition.
Jesus says so, doesn’t he, in just so many words in verse 8. “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” They’ve reached points where they have to choose, where they can’t keep a hold of both.
Five years ago, a new variety of coffee was tried out on one farm. It was called Geisha. And it took the coffee market by storm; that farmer got an extraordinary price for it. So straight away, lots of other coffee farmers started to clear parts of their farms of what they already had growing and planting Geisha. They wanted in on that high price. It’s a high risk strategy. For the first 4-5 years, they will get nothing from those plants, so nothing from that land. Only now will we start to find out how they get on. Will they succeed, or were there particular reasons why the Geisha from that one farm was that good?
But they had to choose. They couldn’t just decide to grow some Geisha and see if it made them some money. They only had so much land. To grow Geisha they had to stop growing something else. They had to choose. Let go of one varietal, and take hold of another.
And it’s the same for the Pharisees. They couldn’t have their cake and eat it. They reached the point where they had to choose. The details of that were skipped over by our reading, and they needn’t trouble us now – they concerned when a particular oath was binding. But they had to choose one or the other. And they let go of what God says in order to keep their tradition.
Here’s their second mistake: They taught their traditions as though they were the word of God. They taught their traditions as though they were the word of God. Jesus quotes Isaiah as pointing out their error: They taught as doctrines the commandments of men. They held other people to the commandments of men. They made them things that other people had to adhere to. They taught them as though they were the word of God.
But they weren’t. They were the commandments of men. And the only thing we can bind on another human being is what God said in the Bible. They taught their traditions as though they were the word of God.
Two mistakes. They let go of what God says in order to keep their tradition. They taught their traditions as though they were the word of God. And mistakes they are because of the very different origins of those two voices. The word of God – comes from God. The traditions of men – come from other people.
So that’s the first answer Jesus gives these Pharisees: Listen to the word of God, not the traditions of men.
Don’t impress people with rituals; love God from your heart.
Here’s the second thing he says to them: Don’t impress people with rituals; love God from your heart. Don’t impress people with rituals; love God from your heart.
Jesus now answers the second part of their question. You’ll remember that the Pharisees asked Jesus in general how his disciples could ignore the traditions of the elders, and in particular why they did not wash their hands in this ceremonial fashion. He now explains why they did not go in for all the hand washing.
And as he does so, he is picking up on the other half of that verse he quotes from Isaiah. “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” We’ll see how he’s expanding that part of the Isaiah verse as we go.
And yet again, the Pharisees have got two things confused. We’ve already seen Jesus tell them not to confuse human and divine words. Now he tells them not confuse inner and outer religion. Not to confuse inner and outer religion.
Let’s start with the ritual washing that they were asking about. The particular practice they discuss is not found anywhere in the Old Testament. That’ll be why it comes under the subject of “traditions of men”, then, rather than the “word of God.” But it clearly relates to lots of the laws we do find in the Old Testament that are all about ceremonial cleanliness.
These were laws about what made you clean or unclean in the sight of God. What made you fit to enter God’s presence as opposed to unfit to enter his presence. And the Old Testament delineated foods you could and could not eat, clothes you could and could not wear, particular ways you had to wash and so on to ensure you were clean in God’s sight and could come into his presence.
One of the things that Jesus says in these verses is that those laws don’t apply to us anymore. Which doesn’t give us permission to go chopping bits out of the Old Testament just because we don’t like them. No, we need to read Jesus very carefully to see why he says that those laws no longer apply.
He explains that those laws existed to teach us something very important. You see what was it that got you unclean in God’s sight? Well if you read Leviticus it was really very ordinary things. In fact, you couldn’t avoid it. All manner of things you would touch and come into contact with would make you unclean.
And that is Jesus’ point. You don’t really have to do anything to become unclean – just… live! And that’s because the uncleanness does not come from the things we do but from who we are. Jesus says that uncleanness comes from our hearts.
In the Bible, the heart isn’t primarily about our emotions. It’s the centre of our personality. It’s who we when we strip away all the layers and get to the core, deep down. It’s what makes us tick. It’s what makes decisions. And it’s our heart that makes us unclean before God, not what we eat.
It’s true, that most of us do a great many kind and wonderful things. It’s a bit like a deep well full of water. Draw water out, it will usually be crystal clear. But at the bottom of the well is a deep layer of mud. Stir the waters, provoke and agitate a bit, and out comes the mud.
So what makes us unclean is not what we eat, what we touch, how we do or don’t wash, what we wear or anything like that. It’s the state or our hearts. So what we need is not a longer list of ceremonial dos and don’ts. We need a new heart.
Wonderfully, what Jesus death and resurrection have achieved for us is precisely that – a new heart for all who will follow him. Jesus’ death and resurrection has changed everything. The old system taught us that everyday life leaves us unclean, and that it takes sacrifice to make us clean again. Now that Jesus has died, and risen again, we can be given brand new hearts. There has been the sacrifice we need to cleanse our hearts, and it’s taken place once for all. Now, if we trust Jesus, we no longer need all the food laws of the Old Testament; we have Jesus to make us fit to enter God’s presence instead.
But the Pharisees missed this, and instead confused inner and outer religion.
Conclusion
So Jesus has said two things. First, don’t live by the traditions of men, live by the word of God. Second, it’s not outward rituals that count, but the state of our hearts. That’s to say, what matters is whether or not we love God.
Now often, those two things that Jesus has said come together. They’re very closely related – as I said at the start, it all boils down to the fact that real religion is primarily about God, not other people.
So let’s think about it. Rituals – they’re primarily outward things – which means they’re visible things – which means others will draw conclusions about us as we engage in ceremonial. Rituals impress people.
The heart, on the other hand – it’s primarily an inward thing – which means it’s an invisible thing – which means that only God knows what’s in there.
So then, at issue is whether our religion is directed towards God or towards our fellow human beings. Who do we listen to? Do we listen to God’s word? Or do we listen to customs and traditions, to “how we do things around here”?
Or if it’s not who we listen to, it’s whose approval we seek. Whose approval do we seek? Do we live out of love for the God who rescued us and gave us new hearts? Or do we outwardly do the things that will tell others we are alright.
Who do we listen to? Whose approval? God or man?
As I’ve prepared this material this week, I’ve found it extremely challenging. My job contains a great deal of ceremonial and ritual, and how easy it is to get that side of things right, but for my heart to be less than totally devoted to God. And then how easy to feel that all is well. I want people to like me, so how tempting to give most attention to those things that will mean others think highly of me, rather than to care more about what God thinks. I’ve grown up through churches, so how easy for me to listen to the traditional ways that “churches I’ve been to have done things” rather than to allow God to cut through that with his word.
Which brings us back to the subject of comparative religion. Where we compare the human founders of each religion. Whose teachings do they follow? And what are their respective rituals, customs, holidays and special seasons? As important as it is to understand other people, Jesus warns us that asking those questions could lead us to follow human customs and traditions, and to think that the rituals we live out are what matter.
Instead, Jesus says that God has spoken. He’s spoken in the Old Testament, at various times and in various ways. Now he’s spoken definitely in his Son.
And the message that God has spoken is that our hearts are full of murk. But wonderfully, God sent his Son to die for us so that we can be forgiven for that murk and given a new heart that loves him. The Pharisees had missed that, and they were all caught up with their human traditions and their rituals.
Which will we do? Will we prioritise human tradition, and getting our rituals right? Or will we prioritise listening to the word of God and getting our hearts right with him?