In order to establish your tradition!

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

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Yesterday I mentioned that there are traditions that the modern day church holds sacred. I thought that I might discuss a few of them and hope I do not offend anyone in the process:

• Money Changers: Jesus evicted them from the temple. I wonder what he would think about the book and DVD tables that adorn church hallways these days?
• Communion: Wonder what the Lord thinks about church services that seem to exclusively focus on the Lord's supper and speak of sacrificing Christ each week?
• Capital Campaigns: What would He who spoke of every stone of the temple being torn down think of the ornate edifices that occupy the poorest of neighborhoods?
• Suits, Ties and Sunday Dresses: When did church become a place to display your Sunday best? Isn't this emphasis on externals contrary to the gospel message?

I am sure that I could list many more traditions that permeate Christianity these days but the message that I am trying to convey is that we all embrace a bit of Pharisaic hypocrisy in the ways that we walk out our faith. The message is to focus more on the internals of the faith.

Lord help me to find ways to embrace the internals of the scripture.