“And he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!’” – Mark 7:9
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was such that they created rules and traditions to justify (in their minds) outright disobedience to God’s clear commandments. They actually came up with a way to selfishly ignore one of the Ten Commandments and wrap their behavior in the appearance of holiness. Of course, Jesus condemned them for this! What could be more absurd than a religious person blatantly ignoring the commands of their religion?
Unfortunately, we often do the same thing! Christians have a remarkable ability to explain away the clear commands of Jesus. To justify (in our minds) why we don’t need to love THOSE neighbors. Why we don’t need to show mercy or make peace or pursue holiness. Why we don’t need to fight our lustful/angry/prideful thoughts. Christians (including leaders and scholars) come up with the most ridiculous reasons why we don’t REALLY have to try to live by the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Even though it’s Jesus’ foremost teaching on what it looks like to live as a citizen of His kingdom!
Don’t make excuses! Don’t explain away what Jesus commanded. Make time today to re-read Matthew 5-7. Rather than quickly saying, “that’s nice” or “that’s impossible” and moving on with your life unchanged, ask God to help you see what you need to think, say, and do differently with the help of the Holy Spirit. #FollowJesus