<p>15:3<em> And he answered and said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?- </em>Although the Lord was very hard in some ways upon the twelve, accusing them of &ldquo;no faith&rdquo; etc., whenever He spoke about them to others or to His Father, He was so positive and defensive about them. This is a valuable window onto His current mediation for us. The disciples were ordinary Jews who weren&rsquo;t such righteous men; they didn&rsquo;t wash before a meal, and the Pharisees criticized them. The Lord explained why this wasn&rsquo;t so important; but the disciples still didn&rsquo;t understand (:15,16). And yet He justifies them to the Pharisees as if they&nbsp;<em>did</em>&nbsp;understand, and as if their non-observance of ritual washing was because of their great spiritual perception. Surely the Lord imputed a righteousness to them which was not their own. He had asked the disciples to be obedient to every jot and tittle of the teaching of the Scribes, because they &ldquo;sit in Moses&rsquo; seat&rdquo;. And yet when they are criticized for not doing what He&rsquo;d asked them to do, for not washing hands before a meal, the Lord Jesus vigorously defends them by criticizing their critics as hypocrites (Mk. 7:2-8). Indeed, the Lord&rsquo;s passion and anger with the critics comes out very clearly in the subsequent record of the incident; and it is the essence of that passion which He has for us in mediating for us.</p>
<p>The force of &ldquo;also&rdquo; transgress is that the Lord didn&rsquo;t deny that His men were transgressing the tradition of the elders- even though He had elsewhere taught them to obey those who &ldquo;sit in Moses&rsquo; seat&rdquo; (Mt. 23:2). But still He justifies His disciples to the world, reflecting His love and imputation of righteousness towards them. And this Lord is our Lord.</p>
<p>The tension is between human&nbsp;<em>tradition</em>, and Divine&nbsp;<em>commandment</em>. There is a tendency to assume that tradition passed down over a period of time is in fact from God. Even the most protestant of Protestant churches have this tendency. And it is in all of us. The Lord goes on to demonstrate that God&rsquo;s&nbsp;<em>command</em>&nbsp;is transgressed not only by bold faced disobedience, but equally by seeking to get around its real force and by&nbsp;<em>omitting</em>&nbsp;to do what that command implies. Accepting the real implication of God&rsquo;s inspired word means that we will fearlessly break with tradition when necessary, and will examine whether our response to His word is direct obedience or rather a mirage, &lsquo;getting around&rsquo; the direct requirement. All this is the practical outcome of believing the Bible to be inspired.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The tradition in view is not specifically their teaching about washing. The subsequent context shows the Lord has in view other traditions. His argument is therefore &lsquo;If&nbsp;<em>some</em>&nbsp;of your traditions are wrong and unBiblical, then why demand we keep other traditions which are within that same body of tradition&rsquo;. And so He relentlessly requires that tradition within any religious group is fearlessly analysed- if some are unBiblical, then the others need not be respected. Just as &ldquo;tradition&rdquo; and &ldquo;commandment&rdquo; are placed in apposition to each other, likewise &ldquo;your&rdquo; is in opposition to &ldquo;of God&rdquo;. Elevating tradition to the status of Divine commandment is yet another way in which religious people &lsquo;play God&rsquo;.</p>