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.’”

The condition of our hearts, motives, attitudes, and actions, matters to God. Sometimes I catch myself saying something technically ok, but not in a kind or loving manner. Other times I might have seeked to get my way and only share the part of the situation I think someone else will like or agree with.

The Pharisees were greedy. They wanted more money to allocate as they desired for the synagogue. So they made an exception for children who do not want to help their parents when they are older, where they could instead declare this money “God’s” and be free of this obligation.

God wants us to honor our parents and this can include providing for them in their old age. Before social security and other welfare systems, children were expected to care for their aging parents even more than they do today.

So here the Pharisees pick out a small, tacky rule or tradition such as washing hands before eating, and they call the disciples out on it. Who knows the circumstance, maybe they were super hungry with no available water around.

This makes me wonder, who had the time to follow them around and find these minor infractions? How much better could that time have been spent if applied to serving God’s people?

Lord, help me to not be like the Pharisees or the person following the disciples reporting on the minor traditions they did not keep. Instead, help me to focus on the major callings in your Word and live above the fray!