Mark 7:9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions .
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees in the opening text. They (Pharisees) have several traditions that cuts across. They observe ritualistic traditions like washing of hands before eating. Of course, it is normal to wash hands before eating but theirs was a ritual without which they may be deemed unrighteous. As one of my lecturers told me, he said that a Pharisee can walk on the road with head straight or turned in another direction because he doesn’t want to see a woman. They have pious traditions yet Jesus called them children of hell. They became traditionalist with the Mosaic ceremonial laws yet their life was in conflict with God’s word.
There are times we hold on to traditions that are in total conflict with God’s word. Those traditions could be self-invented probably as a means of getting closer to God or to try attain righteousness. Sometimes, it could be a tradition that was imposed on us by the church, our culture, environment, or those superior to us. Many years ago, I never believed any one wearing trinkets to be a child of God. I judged by what I saw because that was the religious tradition of my background. I failed to look at the fruit of the Spirit in people, because of the religious tradition of judging by looks. I didn’t care if the person in front of me was living like Christ. Just like the Pharisees, many believers are caught in the web of religious tradition.
Cultural or ethnic tradition is dangerous when it conflict with the fundamentals of the scripture. I once heard of an ethnic group where their wives are used to entertain visitors. Though I heard that practice is long abandoned but if such still exist, it is anti scriptures. There are family traditions as well. A good example is when families demand the bride-to-be to be pregnant before marriage. Their aim is to test if she’s fertile. Though it sounds like a tradition with good intention, but God sees sex before marriage as sin. There would always be conflict between scriptures and some traditions but you must hold fast to the revealed truth in God’s word.
father, I receive the grace to stay faithful to the revealed truth in the scriptures In Jesus name. Amen