The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
One of the distinguishing marks of our culture, and of a subculture we call American evangelicalism, is the disdain and disregard for good, churchly, and Christian traditions. In his books Norms and Nobility: A Critique of Progressive Education and A Defense of Classical Christian Education, Dr. David Hicks wrote the following about the culture that we live in: that we are part of a generation that has a modern affectation for pattern breaking. That is, we love to take things that are old and established and proven and smash them to bits, and in search of something new and different, we love to break traditions. It’s become a way of life for Western people. We are people who take that which is handed down, that which is proven to be good and right and beneficial, and disregard it simply for the sake of something new, something different, something destructive, and something unproven.
In regard to the Western church, this has been a complete rethinking of the nature of the church and of the Christian worship service. Out with the liturgy and on with the show. It meant forsaking the Creed and ancient hymns, liturgies, the prayers, uniforms, rites, the historic practices of the church. At every level of Western culture there has come to be a blatant disregard, from the people in the street to the halls of Congress, to throw away that which is long determined to be good and right, for the sake of getting what I want now, at the cost of sacrificing all that came before.
That was the problem that Isaiah was facing in the Old Testament lesson this morning. The Israelites had forsaken what the Lord God Himself had handed down to them through the prophet Moses and the other prophets, and had turned to the gods and the prophets and priests of Baal. In so doing they became as people who could not read. The Torah became a sealed book to them. It made no sense to them in light of the culture they were now living in. Isaiah 29:11 and 12: “The vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot read.'” The Word of God, the Old Testament scrolls, had become a closed book to the people of Isaiah’s day, to a people who had been caught up in self-righteousness and what we call pluralism — old-fashioned polytheism, the worship of a multitude of gods. Without understanding or knowledge, then as now, the Bible, the Word of God, real theology, is a closed book to even some of the most practicing Christians.
The people of the day had both the spoken and written Word of God. Now, many of the Old Testament prophets and their books had not yet been born — the books had not yet been written — but many of them had by the time Isaiah was alive. They had the Torah, the five books of Moses. They had books like Joshua and Judges and Ruth and First and Second Samuel, the books we call historical books. They had the book of wisdom, Proverbs, and they had the Psalms that were used all the time in the temple for worship. But all too often in their history, the Israelites tragically ignored and rejected the Law and Gospel of the Old Testament prophets. They worshiped an alien god. By the time Isaiah taught and preached and wrote the text of his Old Testament book bearing his name, the Israelites no longer believed and lived by the Word of God, the Word that had been handed down from on high. They followed after their own gods of Baal, their own doctrines, created their own traditions.
In regard to traditions, there arose a bit of a controversy over the place of traditions in the Gospel lesson. And many Christians, especially among the evangelical community, often cite this text, saying that Jesus is frowning upon traditions. But then they don’t know what the word “tradition” means. We’ll get to that in a moment. In verse 1: “Now when the Pharisees gathered to Him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders.” The elders must have known my mother: you don’t wash your hands, you don’t eat. So we at least wash one. They were steeped in traditions made by those who came before them. And one of the things you need to know about the word “tradition,” before you listen to people pooh-pooh traditions in the church or anywhere else, is that it comes from the Greek word paradosis. The word literally means “that which is handed down.” That’s what a tradition is: it’s that which has been handed down from one generation to another generation. A tradition, in the language of the Bible, is something handed down for the younger to learn from the older. There are good traditions, then, and there are bad traditions — like good habits and bad habits. And a habit and a tradition are kissing cousins.
The Israelites had the written Word of God. They had the prophets and rabbis and priests and temple, and they had the liturgy, and they had the Law and Gospel and more. All these things had been given — that is, handed down — to them by the Lord God Himself, because they were His chosen people, and they were to be the caretakers of the traditions, the words of God Himself. But these God-given traditions, hand-me-downs, had been cut off from their meaning and had become connected to a religion of works-righteousness by the leaders of Israel. And pluralism had become the way of the world: polytheism, the worship of the many gods, in addition to the Christian God. It’s like that horrible bumper sticker you see for “coexistence,” which is nothing but blasphemy.
But good traditions are good. Traditions can teach important theological truths. Traditions can give us a common practice that unites us in the body of Christ, that is, the church. Traditions can train and strengthen our faith, and they can build up virtue. Making the sign of the cross, for example, is a good tradition. Many of our Lutheran hymnals encourage making the sign of the cross. The Catechism itself encourages us to make the sign of the cross. Making the sign of the cross is a tradition that has a purpose: it’s meant to remind you of your Baptism, where you received the sign of the cross, both upon the forehead for the mind, and upon the breast for the heart. We Lutherans have the tradition of following the church calendar with different seasons. We have Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter seasons, and each season has its own color, its own tradition: purple and white and green and red. Right now we’re in the season of Pentecost, which is the season of the long green color. Following the church calendar reminds us and helps us keep in mind what Christ did, from birth to death, resurrection and ascension, for us and for our salvation. And the seasons highlight particular aspects of the person and the work of Jesus Christ. It assigns readings that focus on those things, so that we learn the Bible passages. That which is handed down is handed down in the public worship service. The calendar connects us with other Christians across the world who celebrate the events at the same time and in a similar way as we do. Thus the church calendar is a good tradition.
When prophets like Isaiah called the Israelites to repent of their lip service and their elevation of man-made traditions over the traditions, the hand-me-downs, the words of God, the Israelites called the prophets troublers, troublemakers of Israel. So the Lord God said in Isaiah 29:13: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men.” In other words, these people have become false believers, and they’re believing and trusting in all the wrong things. That history always repeats itself. There’s the problem: the leaders were putting rules and regulations of men above the things that God had handed down through the prophet Moses and all the prophets that followed. Chiefly, they were replacing the Word of God itself. No wonder they rejected Christ when He came into the world. Jesus quotes this verse as it was translated by the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament. He said, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” That is, usurping the doctrine, the teaching of God Himself, for the commands, the rules and regulations of men.
The Israelites of old, and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, had everything backwards. That is also called out in Isaiah 29:16: “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” Even in the face of turning away and unfaithfulness, the Lord God goes on, in this condemnation under the Law, to preach and promise the Gospel, the coming Messiah: “Therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” That is, He is going to do some great and wonderful works that make all the works of mankind, all their rules and regulations, all their false theological constructs, null and void, for something far greater than their rules and regulations.
In Mark 7 we find Jesus, the promised Messiah, doing what Isaiah 29 said the Messiah would do: that He would come, and He would heal the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, give walking to the lame. He was teaching the Word of God and what it actually meant. He was, in essence, upholding the good, right, and salutary traditions, hand-me-downs from His Heavenly Father. The religious elite were unhappy with this Jesus, who wanted to return them to the old ways of doing things. They wanted the new ways of doing things. Though the requirement of the ritual handwashing is not in the Old Testament, the religious leaders made it a meritorious work before God. And as such, to not do it, or to violate it, in their view, was a great and grievous sin. To this idea Jesus responded: “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; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” That’s exactly what they had done. They had rewritten God’s plan of salvation, tossed out the clear words of the biblical text, and adopted a whole different philosophical approach to religion. They turned it into works-righteousness with their own man-made rituals and traditions. And now they expect the Son of God to put His stamp on their revision. They didn’t get it.
“You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ But you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, “Whatever I have that would help you is Corban” (that is, given to God),’ you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus making void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” The word “Corban” is a Hebrew word. It’s kept in the Greek translation, but it’s still the solid Hebrew word, and it means a gift or an offering that is consecrated to God. And anything that is consecrated to God cannot be used for any ordinary thing. You can’t use it to serve your dinner on. You can’t drink your beer out of it. If it’s consecrated to God, it’s for sacramental use and for the divine service in service to God. Jesus condemns the use of the word, and the gift given. The use of “Corban” destroyed the Fourth Commandment, which required children to honor their fathers and their mothers. Think of it this way: in the ancient world, an adult son takes the family donkey to the synagogue or to the temple. He donates it to the synagogue or to the temple, and he pronounces over it the word “Corban,” which now means it has been consecrated and can only be used in service to the Lord God Himself. Now the son has left the family donkey, and the parents have now been denied any use thereof. Denying the use and the helpfulness to parents is a violation of the Fourth Commandment. The Pharisees had created a loophole that allowed, in their theology, the son to neglect his parents while enriching himself and his colleagues. And Jesus calls them hypocrites for doing it.
Here Jesus points out the real problem with the traditions, in verse 13: “Thus you have made void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” That’s when traditions are a problem for the church: when a tradition violates the Word of God. And many a pastor, including many that call themselves Lutheran, have unwittingly introduced new traditions that in fact violate the Word of God. We find this especially in things like the ordination of women. We find it in the breaking of fellowship, in the biblical sense, setting aside the concern for pure doctrine, all for the illusion of some kind of Christian unity. So let’s all march together for Jesus, as if there isn’t a difference among us. Traditions and teachings that make known the Word of God, that shine the light on the Law and Gospel, and do not contradict nor negate any of Jesus’ or the Bible’s teaching — these are rightly called God-pleasing traditions, and ought to be passed on from generation to generation. Things should be handed down. It’s not traditions in and of themselves that are condemned here, but rather traditions and teachings that invalidate the Word of God. That’s the principle. That’s why Paul could write in 2 Thessalonians 2:15: “Brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”
Isaiah wrote to the spiritually illiterate that the book is sealed. They cannot and do not understand or believe. They approach the Word of God like the blind. But in the day of the Messiah: “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.” Christ is the one who exalts. He is the Holy One of Israel. He is the one about whom all the words have been handed down as traditions to us, to observe, to practice, and to learn. He is the one who gives sight to the blind, heals the lame, restores hearing to the deaf, brings joy to those who mourn, and life to those who die. God the Father did something wonderful and magnificent in Christ. He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but shall have everlasting life. In short, our Lutheran confessions say the worship of the New Testament is spiritual. It is the righteousness of faith in the heart, and the fruit of faith. New Testament worship sets aside the Levitical service. In the New Testament, no offerings avail. No work accounts for anything without true faith and hope in the heart. There is nothing pleasing to God. It teaches that people should worship in spirit and in truth, and that is in the inclination of the heart, and by faith alone, by God’s grace, and by His hand. We, in this place we call Little Immanuel — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit — has handed down to us His God-pleasing and God-created tradition, all in service to the ministry of the church, that is, to the Word and Sacrament ministry. And what’s the Word and Sacrament ministry all about? The forgiveness of your sins. That’s what’s been passed down to you. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.