
Fiddler on the Roof, a timeless classic first released in 1964, held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost a decade. The story centers on the weight of choices as Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, grapples with preserving his Jewish religious and cultural traditions in the face of changing times.
One of the most well-known songs in Fiddler on the Roof is “Tradition.” Tevye, the father, sings, “Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything…how to eat, how to sleep, even how to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered and always wear a little prayer shawl… This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how did this tradition start? I’ll tell you – I don’t know. But it’s a tradition… Because of our traditions, Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”
Traditions, as old as humanity itself, are crucial in maintaining cultural continuity. Through traditions, we pass down information, beliefs, and customs from one generation to another. As Tevye’s song in Fiddler on the Roof suggests, traditions uphold social attitudes, customs, and institutions, ensuring that a culture’s essence endures. However, it’s essential to understand the origins of traditions, as when they are lost with time, their practice can become empty and almost meaningless.
In our study of Mark’s Gospel, we come to the opening verses of chapter seven. Mark records an interaction between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees. The discussion centers around the importance of traditions. Traditions often arise out of sincere attempts to please God. However, if they are not handled carefully, they can lead to hypocrisy. I hope you can stay with me for my teaching, “The Trouble with Tradition,” from Mark 7:1 to 13.
Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders reveals the dangers of relying solely on tradition to guide our beliefs and practices. It underscores the need for a balanced approach, where tradition is respected but not mindlessly followed.
Tradition can be manipulated for selfish ends.
Our text tells us that a group of religious leaders from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. By this time, His fame had spread across the region, and the religious leaders weren’t happy about it. So, they watched Jesus and His disciples with a critical eye, desperate to prove that He couldn’t possibly be the Messiah, as some rumors suggested.
It didn’t take them long to find something to criticize. They observed Jesus’ disciples eating bread without first washing their hands, which is proper for sanitary reasons. However, the religious leaders’ objection wasn’t practical but rather ceremonial.
Mark explains, “For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they specially wash their hands, holding the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.”
The Pharisees would not eat without first washing their hands, including the wrists, as prescribed by the elders’ traditions. This washing was an elaborate ritual, which we can discern from John chapter two, where Jesus turned water into wine. Verse six tells us, “Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.” That’s a lot of water! So, when Jesus’ disciples violated this tradition, the Pharisees questioned why.
This practice was more about control than cleanliness. It was a way to classify people. Those who practiced the Pharisees’ traditions were accepted as righteous and were socially approved. Those who ignored their traditions were considered unclean and ignorant sinners whom God would reject. Do you suppose the thousands who ate the miraculous meal the previous day had adequately washed their hands?
Previously, the Pharisees had accused Jesus’ miraculous powers of originating in Satan, Matthew 12:24. Another accusation against Him was, “He is a sinner” John 9:16. Since He allowed His followers to eat without washing their hands, He was a law-breaker. He was one of those unclean, ignorant sinners. In their minds, these proofs should put to rest any claims that He could be the Promised One.
Though traditions often begin as something positive and valuable, they can, over time, become a tool to approve or sanction people, much like the Pharisees did. They can become an outward form, having lost the original meaning they were meant to convey. The practice of the tradition becomes more important than the principle it is intended to uphold. God commands us as His people to be holy, clean, and separated from the defilement of sin. However, the Pharisees manipulated that command to achieve their selfish ends. They became the final arbiters of who was clean or unclean. Unfortunately, some leaders still succumb to this temptation today.
Tradition can be elevated to the level of Scripture.
The misuse of tradition to achieve selfish ends is terrible enough. However, elevating tradition to the level of Scripture, or above it, is a greater sin! The rabbinic writings specified that no Scriptural ordinance required confirmation and that no Halakhah (traditional law) could contradict Scripture. Here, Jesus pronounced judgment on the Pharisees for violating the teachings of their own Talmud.
For those who may not know, the Talmud contains several things. The oral traditions that pervaded the Judaism of Jesus’ day were eventually written down in the Mishnah around the end of the second century AD. These and additional rabbinic commentary called Gemara make up the Talmud. This collection of Jewish traditions in printed form contains thousands of pages of extrabiblical material. Many Orthodox Jews today study these writings instead of the Scriptures themselves.
Jesus’ words drip with sarcasm. “In a fine way, Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. In vain, they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 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.” Jesus called them hypocrites because they appeared to honor Him with their words, but their hearts were far removed from Him.
The Pharisees neglected and dismissed God’s commandments by elevating their traditions. They gave greater weight to the scribes’ oral teachings than to the written Word of God. Regarding this tradition of washing hands, the Talmud says that neglecting it is to be guilty of “gross carnal defilement.” Its omission could lead to destruction or, at least, to poverty. One rabbi who held this tradition in contempt was buried in excommunication!
The Pharisees were focused on outward cleanliness rather than inward holiness. That is why Jesus took such a dramatic stand on this issue. Almost the entire chapter of Matthew 23 is devoted to Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees for this error.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you, cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish so that the outside may also be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside, you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
If I were to distill Jesus’s words into one sentence, I would say, “He rebuked the Pharisees for paying more attention to appearance than to substance.” That happens when traditions are elevated to the same level as Scripture.
Tradition can be twisted to violate biblical commands.
After rebuking the Pharisees for elevating their traditions above the Scriptures, He administered the coup de gras, giving them a contemporary illustration of their duplicity. He sarcastically tells them, “You are clever at setting aside the command of God to follow your tradition.” Imagine how this cut them to the heart and multiplied their hatred for Him.
The fifth of the Ten Commandments is “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” Jesus reminded them of Moses’ command to reverence and respect their father and mother and stated that whoever curses their parents should be put to death. Part of that honor and respect is caring for the parents later in life.
However, in their contrived religiosity, the Pharisees found a way to avoid keeping this command. Wisdom dictates that one responsible for caring for aging parents should set aside a portion of his income in preparation for that task. Jesus outlines the scenario as follows.
A person responsible for the care of his parents designates a certain amount of money for that need. However, if he says to his parents, “The money set aside for your care is a ‘gift to God’” (korban), he is removed from the obligation of spending it on their care.
Korban is a Hebrew term that means “devoted to God.” It referred to offerings of money or material goods promised to God. In Israel’s history, a tradition arose that allowed people to declare their possessions as korban. This meant they were promising to use those resources for sacred purposes. We’re told that the rabbis permitted the mere saying of the word korban to prevent using the needed money for the parents’ support.
So, the Pharisees justified the son’s trickery and held that he was prohibited from ever using it to care for his parents. However, get this: He could use it for himself! By their traditions, the religious leaders invalidated or nullified God’s command. Jesus further stated that they did many other things with similar results.
The Judaism of the scribes and Pharisees was an unbiblical religion that invalidated God’s Word. The true faith of the Hebrew Scriptures had been lost, obscured by layers of rabbinic traditions.
From Israel’s beginning, God’s desire for genuine worship was clear. In Deuteronomy 10:12 and 13, we read, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Further, we have the shmah in Deuteronomy 6:4 and 5. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” God’s emphasis on worship and righteousness has always been on the heart!
While Jesus detested the traditions of apostate Judaism, tradition itself isn’t inherently evil. All of us practice traditions in one form or another. We have traditions surrounding our observance of the Lord’s Table. For example, the only commands associated with the Lord’s Table are to partake in a worthy manner of the bread and the cup, thus remembering the Lord’s death until He returns. Whether you use unleavened bread or not, whether you use wine or grape juice, these are matters of preference and tradition.
Trouble arises when traditions are manipulated for selfish ends or used to classify or control people. Often, this happens when the original purpose of the tradition is forgotten, leading to an empty form.
Tradition should never be elevated to the level of Scripture. Genuine Believers will joyfully obey God’s commands, even if it means breaking with tradition. They embrace Jesus’s words in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Finally, tradition should never be twisted to violate biblical commands. That is hypocrisy! Hypocrisy isn’t limited to ancient Israel. It is still pervasive in Christendom today. It thrives in empty ceremonies, indifferent prayers, superficial worship, false doctrines, and moralism. It looks good on the outside but is corrupt on the inside.
The solution for hypocrisy is the same as for any other sin: repentance. Every hypocritical, self-righteous religious person must realize that, before God, his works are like filthy, disgusting rags (Isaiah 64:6). True righteousness is only available through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. All who embrace Him in saving faith will be cleansed and transformed from the inside out. They will become true worshippers. Are you one of those true worshippers?