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Mark 7:8 NLT

For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.

Growing up in a secular country, I don’t recall any traditions that society required. My dad taught me always to offer my seat to a woman when on public transport, and to place myself kerbside when walking with my mum or sister anywhere. The first of these was fine until one day I offered up my seat and provoked an inspiring speech about feminism from the fiery young lady in question. I smiled awkwardly and shrank back into my seat covered with both confusion and embarrassment.

Traditions have an origin. So, walking on the outside comes, I understand, from medieval times when the contents of the latrine bucket were tipped from upper storeys onto the street below. Hence the male was expected to offer some safeguard to the woman; a practice that is thankfully no longer needed. Jesus makes reference to not merely the Jewish tradition of hand-washing, but highlights the way in which the Pharisees had embellished this tradition with a series of additional rules as a means of demonstrating their holiness. Jesus cuts through this to illustrate that the purpose for a tradition counts. We all still wash our hands before eating for hygiene reasons, much as the Jews have always done.

It’s good to question the reason why we do certain things. Why attend congregational gatherings weekly? Why read the Bible daily? Why pray? There’s a great danger that any of us can become caught up in a tradition born of routine from which neither we, nor God, derive any real benefit. Faithfulness in external behaviours is no real expression of faithfulness. It reflects learned behaviour and perhaps has been passed down to us from a previous generation. We practise it at our peril if it is not true to who we are.

So we must ask ourselves the questions that count. For example, why pray? Well, to deepen a real relationship with God. But if prayer is no more than a routine, and if in prayer we fail to experience an encounter with God, we need to revisit the practice.

QUESTION: Take time to examine the traditions you have established and ensure that God remains at the heart of your practice.

PRAYER: Lord, may all I do draw me closer and enliven my love for you.