Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition

“Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition”. (Matthew 15:6)

   They are two major forces that form the ideology and trends of human society. One is the Word of God and the other is tradition. Among these two the latter is more popular than the former. A great majority of people want to follow the tradition.

   What is tradition? Tradition is what the most respected and elderly people of former generations have felt, taught and passed on to their future generations concerning all the vital issues of human life. Tradition is all the opinions and beliefs of highly respected people of yester generations put together.

   Every nation and race has its own traditions and so does the Jewish nation. God had specially blessed the nation of Israel by giving them His glorious Word! In spite of having the Word of God with them, the Jews have formed their own tradition.

   The Jews have not only formed their own traditions but have also nullified the Word of God for the sake of their traditions. The teachings of the leaders of the Jewish society were at sharp variance with the Word of God. On many issues the commandments of the Lord were very clear but the Jews were ignoring and deliberately breaking the Law of God saying that the tradition teaches otherwise.

   This is the general tendency of all the children of Adam. The human tradition and the Word of God are always opposed to each other. Whenever a man of God brings the Word of God to their notice, people brush it aside and say “the elders have taught us otherwise. The elders cannot be wrong. We want to follow the tradition”. People always prefer to follow the tradition rather than the Word of God.

   But very rarely something unconventional happens. Suddenly someone has an encounter with the God of the whole universe. He/she becomes angry with the whole situation. He joins with King David and declares “Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law”. (Psalm 119:53)He/she will be pleasantly surprised to discover that there are God’s chosen few who share the same feelings. This is the remnant of God who make a firm resolution and set out to walk a new way to nullify the human tradition and lift up the Word of God.

   In every generation we find these two classes of people. The majority lives to nullify the Word of God for the sake of their own traditions and the blessed minority lives and strives to nullify the traditions for the sake of the Word of God. My dear brother and sister, to which class do you belong? Better stand by the Word of God and God’s minority! May God give you the wisdom and courage to do so!!