Traditions of Men
In Matthew 15:9, Jesus said of certain Jews: “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” This verse may surprise a great many people because it is not one that “Christian” leaders quote very often. The first thing that might shock some people is that Jesus said that some people worship Him in vain. That means that their worship of the Lord is worthless. How could Jesus make such a statement? The answer is, “Because it is true.” Not all worship offered to God is valid. This fact runs counter to 21st-century religious narratives, which assure us that God accepts every kind of worship offered to Him. If the kind of worship we offer pleases us, then it will please Him. Jesus disagrees.
What made their worship vain was that they made up their own commandments and replaced those given by God. The text of Matthew 15:1-8 explains further. God had given a clear and plain command—“Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex. 20:12). However, many had adopted a practice that circumvented that commandment. They told their parents: “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God” (Mattt. 15:5). Therefore, God got the support the parent should have received. Jesus called them hypocrites! Quoting Isaiah, He added, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). And then he called it vain worship in verse 9.
“But surely no one is behaving in such a wicked way today,” one might think. No? God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel about 1445 B.C. About 1,500 years later, various traditions dominated the Jewish religion. Jesus and the apostles revealed the New Testament nearly 2,000 years ago. Is it possible that in that length of time various traditions have developed? Uh, slightly. Take today, for example. According to tradition (not the Scriptures), today is Easter—one of two huge Christian holidays. No Greek text has the word Easter in it. The King James erroneously translated the word Passover as Easter in Acts 12:4, but they did so based on their English tradition—not the Word of God.
“So, does it really matter, since the resurrection is the most important event in the history of the world?” Of course, it matters; the reason involves answering this question: “Do we want to observe Jesus’ resurrection from the dead the way God wants it—or the way we want it? Many sincere people carefully observe Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday—none of which are mentioned in the Scriptures; they are traditions of men. Christians in the New Testament observed the resurrection every Lord’s day (Acts 20:7). Is it right to replace God’s commandment with traditions of men?