Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Oh Friends, our God is such a wonderful Being; He never ceases to amaze me! Today I had nothing specific in mind to write about, so I was looking through the Good Book, the Old Testament, but nothing was touching my spirit. Then suddenly I got this urge to hear some words of Jesus, and I casually flipped to the New Testament. Lo and behold, it flipped to Mark Chap.7, which had a passage written in red, denoting Jesus’ words. I decided to check them out, and voila; there was Today’s Bit! How can I not thank, praise and revere Him eh? So many times He’s come through for me in the last minute. That’s why I call Him, the Master of Timing. Anyway, before I get carried away, (smile) let’s turn to the Bit, which sees Jesus lambasting; ‘assailing with withering oral denunciation,’ a group of scribes and Pharisees sent from Jerusalem to the Palestine hinterland to monitor His rising fame. They had seen some of the disciples eating with unwashed hands and this upset them terribly, since the upper class Jews had this traditional custom, or phobia about washing; hands, pots, pans etc. before eating. So they asked Jesus why His disciples were eating bread with unwashed hands. Hn! They didn’t know what hit them, for Jesus laid into them like white on rice. ‘Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written; (Is.29:13) This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things do ye.’ (Mark 7:6-8) I just adore it Friends! Can you imagine Jesus, dressed in ordinary Jewish garb, standing on a street corner tongue lashing the so-called upper echelons of His people? No doubt their eyes and mouths were wide open in wonder and surprise, for no one else was brazen enough to question their behaviour, especially one handed down through long years of tradition. Note too Friends, Jesus’ voice wasn’t loud and quarrelsome either, just normal volume, but the tonal quality drove home His message, laid the whip to your spirit. And Jesus was right, for certain traditions had come to be looked upon as godly directive, equal to the laws of the Old Testament itself. In this particular case, the scribes and Pharisees concern wasn’t actually the dirty hands of the disciples, but their ignoring Jewish high tradition of washing first, and so becoming ceremonially unclean. Jesus is saying that through years of tradition, some Jewish religious practices were then conflicting with the older Old Testament laws. Now don’t snicker or deride them people, for we are doing exactly the same thing today; too many of us are substituting modern religious custom for divinely revealed truth. As Jesus told them: ‘Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.’ As Wisdom says: ‘But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.’ (Prov.1:25) They disdained God’s advice and would not accept His reprimands either. Like when Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet ever, the ordinary men, the tax collectors, believed and were baptized by John. ‘But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.’ (Luke 7:28-30) We do the same thing Friends; whenever we’re admonished or warned by God of some fault in our souls, if it doesn’t sit well with us, doesn’t jive with our opinion, then we summarily reject it, to our later dismay. So, in essence, we’re no different from those Pharisees. Isaiah declared: ‘The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.’ (Is.24:5) Yes Friends, that’s true today too. We keep seeking the easy way, or the way of men, which isn’t always the way of God. Jesus used the example of Moses teaching that we should honour our mother and father, and that anyone who dishonours them should be put to death. But the Jews in Jesus’ time could declare their possessions ‘Corban’ or ‘devoted to God,’ and so shirk any further responsibility to their parents. Apparently the religious leaders condoned it, although it was clearly circumventing both the intent and the letter of the Old Testament law. ‘And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.’ (Mark 7:12-13) That’s why Friends we have to be very careful about what we do, believing that we’re following God’s law, cause in many cases those things are also tradition oriented, but not divine revelation. We need to carefully consider our actions and compare them to the Good Book to determine what is merely man’s tradition, and what’s been divinely revealed. As Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, their main concern wasn’t so much the dirty hands of the disciples, that they could get sick that way, but more the ritual of washing before eating; the ceremonial rite which made you clean. Oh Friends, there are many such things floating around today, where the ceremony and the rite have become more important than the law, and we’re admonished to follow them. But please, let’s not follow everything blindly, so that we won’t be guilty as the Pharisees, cause when we’re called to judgement, we can’t offer as an excuse, so and so made me do it, or told me it was right. God gave us the Good Book and free will so we could find out and decide for ourselves. So let’s check everything first with the Good Book nuh; the ultimate decider, the ultimate authority. Much LOVE!…remember…not all that glitters is gold…so please check carefully before buying…
Oh Friends, our God is such a wonderful Being; He never ceases to amaze me! Today I had nothing specific in mind to write about, so I was looking through the Good Book, the Old Testament, but nothing was touching my spirit. Then suddenly I got this urge to hear some words of Jesus, and I casually flipped to the New Testament. Lo and behold, it flipped to Mark Chap.7, which had a passage written in red, denoting Jesus’ words. I decided to check them out, and voila; there was Today’s Bit! How can I not thank, praise and revere Him eh? So many times He’s come through for me in the last minute. That’s why I call Him, the Master of Timing. Anyway, before I get carried away, (smile) let’s turn to the Bit, which sees Jesus lambasting; ‘assailing with withering oral denunciation,’ a group of scribes and Pharisees sent from Jerusalem to the Palestine hinterland to monitor His rising fame. They had seen some of the disciples eating with unwashed hands and this upset them terribly, since the upper class Jews had this traditional custom, or phobia about washing; hands, pots, pans etc. before eating. So they asked Jesus why His disciples were eating bread with unwashed hands. Hn! They didn’t know what hit them, for Jesus laid into them like white on rice. ‘Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written; (Is.29:13) This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things do ye.’ (Mark 7:6-8) I just adore it Friends! Can you imagine Jesus, dressed in ordinary Jewish garb, standing on a street corner tongue lashing the so-called upper echelons of His people? No doubt their eyes and mouths were wide open in wonder and surprise, for no one else was brazen enough to question their behaviour, especially one handed down through long years of tradition. Note too Friends, Jesus’ voice wasn’t loud and quarrelsome either, just normal volume, but the tonal quality drove home His message, laid the whip to your spirit. And Jesus was right, for certain traditions had come to be looked upon as godly directive, equal to the laws of the Old Testament itself. In this particular case, the scribes and Pharisees concern wasn’t actually the dirty hands of the disciples, but their ignoring Jewish high tradition of washing first, and so becoming ceremonially unclean. Jesus is saying that through years of tradition, some Jewish religious practices were then conflicting with the older Old Testament laws. Now don’t snicker or deride them people, for we are doing exactly the same thing today; too many of us are substituting modern religious custom for divinely revealed truth. As Jesus told them: ‘Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.’ As Wisdom says: ‘But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.’ (Prov.1:25) They disdained God’s advice and would not accept His reprimands either. Like when Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet ever, the ordinary men, the tax collectors, believed and were baptized by John. ‘But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.’ (Luke 7:28-30) We do the same thing Friends; whenever we’re admonished or warned by God of some fault in our souls, if it doesn’t sit well with us, doesn’t jive with our opinion, then we summarily reject it, to our later dismay. So, in essence, we’re no different from those Pharisees. Isaiah declared: ‘The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.’ (Is.24:5) Yes Friends, that’s true today too. We keep seeking the easy way, or the way of men, which isn’t always the way of God. Jesus used the example of Moses teaching that we should honour our mother and father, and that anyone who dishonours them should be put to death. But the Jews in Jesus’ time could declare their possessions ‘Corban’ or ‘devoted to God,’ and so shirk any further responsibility to their parents. Apparently the religious leaders condoned it, although it was clearly circumventing both the intent and the letter of the Old Testament law. ‘And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.’ (Mark 7:12-13) That’s why Friends we have to be very careful about what we do, believing that we’re following God’s law, cause in many cases those things are also tradition oriented, but not divine revelation. We need to carefully consider our actions and compare them to the Good Book to determine what is merely man’s tradition, and what’s been divinely revealed. As Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, their main concern wasn’t so much the dirty hands of the disciples, that they could get sick that way, but more the ritual of washing before eating; the ceremonial rite which made you clean. Oh Friends, there are many such things floating around today, where the ceremony and the rite have become more important than the law, and we’re admonished to follow them. But please, let’s not follow everything blindly, so that we won’t be guilty as the Pharisees, cause when we’re called to judgement, we can’t offer as an excuse, so and so made me do it, or told me it was right. God gave us the Good Book and free will so we could find out and decide for ourselves. So let’s check everything first with the Good Book nuh; the ultimate decider, the ultimate authority. Much LOVE!…remember…not all that glitters is gold…so please check carefully before buying…
SCRIP-BITS 