Mark 7:5-13 “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" (6) He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'this people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. (7) And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' (8) For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men-- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." (9) He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (10) For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' (11) But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"--' (that is, a gift to God), (12) then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, (13) making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
I brought all this into this section to make it clear that disputes about non-issues are not evil, and do not involve the conscience. You may say why is that important? It is very important because what it does is give us a clear biblical understanding that what is good and evil as far as our conscience is concerned, is absolute. It is not a cultural thing which is open for discussion. In other words our conscience does not change its view on what is good and what is evil, depending on what our personal beliefs are at any given time. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord Jesus teaches us that adhering to religious or cultural practices has nothing to do with the conscience of man. In this passage the religious leaders of His day questioned Him as to why He was allowing His disciples to ignore the cultural traditions that everyone else was observing. Jesus replied that the only thing that matters is keeping the commandments of God, not the traditions of men. Jesus would never teach us to violate our conscience, because He is the one who created it. And so if ignoring our cultural traditions had the effect of violating our conscience, then Jesus would have taught us to keep those traditions. But Jesus teaches the exact opposite, because He knows that not keeping the traditions of our culture has nothing to do with the conscience. For in fact what the traditions of men eventually do is to nullify the commandments of God, because men begin to exalt their traditions above the commandments of God, all the time claiming to be serving the Lord, when in actual fact their traditions have now become their God. Thus Jesus calls them hypocrites.
Michael E.B. Maher
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