All Too Well

He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition...
      ...making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7:9&13

Proficiency in a skill or talent is something we strive for in our lives daily. We also like to watch people who have worked from a young age to increase their proficiency in a talent. Jesus pointed out something in the Pharisees that they performed all too well: rejecting the commandment of God.

And they probably didn't remember practicing for this skill.

We do some things all too well without even trying hard. Want proof that we are born in sin? Simply watch how easily sins come to children left without parents or with parents who cannot be troubled to raise them to obey much of anything or anyone. Think of that first lie you were caught in; where did you learn to lie? When were the practice sessions held? However, the subject at hand back in John Mark's day was over regulation. The Pharisees had so many traditions, 600 or more, that at least one had come into conflict with God's commandments.

We are of course law-abiding citizens of a great nation. Never would we be considered lawless, surely? I read a story of a project headed up by a Justice Department official to count the federal criminal laws in 1982. The team counted 3,000 criminal offenses over a two year project before giving up, and that was 35 years ago. How many must there be now? The Pharisees, it seems, handed down a tradition of rule making to our government that would make their most ardent tradition makers proud. 600, what a bunch of pikers! We don't even know how many criminal laws we have, and to think we are obedient in all laws - you and I might be criminals even as we sit here! Who could know?

How important is it then to behold God's law and keep it? Thanks be to God that Jesus our Lord gave us a great simplification: two commandments involving love, plus this new one: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34

Amen, love one another!
Bucky