Been Made Perfect

Love and tradition must go hand in hand.

1 Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,[b] keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].) 5 So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders[c] but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 6 He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

7 In vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines human precepts.’

8 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” 9 He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ 11 Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’[d] (meaning, dedicated to God), 12 you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”-Mark7:1-13

Traditions are not wrong. Jesus did not say explicitly that it is wrong. But perhaps the invitation of Jesus for us is to have a self-reflection of why exactly we are doing some of the traditions and practices we have now. "Why are we doing it? What is its purpose? What happens to us when we are doing it? Is it done as an act of love for God? Is it done as an act of love for our neighbors? Is it making us charitable and kind to others?" One example of tradition is Christmas. It was not written in the Bible that we should celebrate it, but we do, because it is the Savior's birthday and the day when Salvation story began. As time goes on, "Merry Christmas" was omitted in favor of "Happy Holiday." As time goes on, so many think that Christmas is a time for bonuses, fat paychecks, winter, snow, sales, bargains, food, drink, party, fashion, charity works. Well, where is Jesus in the list? It's His day, His season, His celebration and yet it seems He was not present on some people's list. Jesus is inviting us to make all our actions - may it be tradition, practice, habit, custom, work, etc. - paired with love of God and neighbor so that it will produce the perfect man and woman according to the will of God.

Image courtesy: artist