BIBLE LESSON

“They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

— Matthew 15:9 While plotting to kill Jesus, some Pharisees and teachers of the law followed Jesus to find a way to entrap him. In some of their efforts, they accused Jesus of allowing his disciples to break their traditions, traditions their elders had created. In reply, Jesus told them that they were using their old traditions to disobey the law of God while appearing to obey God. After giving them an example of how they used a crafty tradition to break the law of God; enabling them to appear holy while they avoided honoring their mother and father, Jesus called them hypocrites. The Pharisees and teachers of the law represented themselves as sincere worshippers of God, but they were self-centered instead of God-centered. They created a tradition that would allow them to keep the most money for themselves by giving a smaller offering in temple worship than what it would cost them to help their mother or father in their old age. Because they plotted ways to disobey God while appearing to obey God, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah and said their worship was vain or empty; their worship experience was of no value to God, to themselves, or to others. Throughout history, individuals and groups have been tempted to create traditions and practices that set aside the law of God while appearing to obey God.

— L.G. Parkhurst Jr. Send email to lgp@prayersteps.org