Tired of Church

Does anyone else get tired of church sometimes? Halt with your tomato throwing! Allow me to explain. The reason I get tired of church is because I love it so much (My turn with the tomato now. Hand it over please!).

Over the course of church history, the Church (collectively) has fought to keep tradition. In and of itself, tradition may not be a bad thing, but, unfortunately you would have to agree that we often defend and cling to tradition more than Jesus. Is this right? Is Jesus, whom we claim to worship and serve, okay with this? Worse still, we then get prideful and begin criticizing others who have a toothpick in their eye while we have an oak tree in ours!

What does God say? Take a look at Matthew 15 and you'll find a situation that is very similar to the one you and I just discussed.

After Jesus fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish, the fame spread throughout the region. The scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, heard about all the miracles that Jesus accomplished and they came to Jesus asking, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread" (Matt. 15:2). Okay, let me try to wrap my mind around this. In that day there were scribes all over the land, and the scribes from Jerusalem were the chief scribes. So, the big wigs hear about all the miracles that Jesus is performing and they travel "the distance" only to complain about...handwashing??? Now don't get me wrong, it is sick nasty when someone walks out of the restroom without washing their hands. The travelling part really makes me laugh though. If I overheard that my friend from high school hasn't been washing his hands, there is no way I would become "the handwashing patrol" and travel over 300 miles to question him about it. This makes me think that something else behind the scenes is going on here.

The way that Jesus handles this situation truly amazes me though. "He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God, commanded saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have reveived from me is a gift to God"- then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me'" (Matt. 15:3-8a). In other words, "That's great that you keep man's laws, but you are breaking God's laws."

It saddens me to think that when we cling ever so close to tradition that it's possible to make the commandment of God of no effect by our traditions. Although, I've had to admit that there is no such thing as a perfect church, at the same time, why don't we transfer our white-knuckle grip from tradition to Jesus? Lets remember today that traditions didn't die for us...only Jesus did.