blind guides

One Sunday years ago I was out of town, and went to worship with a local church. Seated in the sanctuary, I watched three college-aged boys come in and take their seats a couple rows down. They were neatly dressed in blue jeans and crew-collar shirts; one and sunglasses on the top of his head, another a hoodie with arms tied around his waist. They were smiling and chatting as they flipped through the bulletin and found the sermon passage in the Bibles they carried in.

After just a moment, though, a gentleman in his forties in a suit and tie walked up and told the boy to get those sunglasses off his head, and to show more respect. The boys’ smiles quickly vanished and they slumped silently in their seats, waiting for the service to start.

That vivid memory returned as I read Matthew 15 this morning, specifically the first three verses: “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?’”

Why, indeed, do we break God’s command defending our traditions? I don’t know, but it happens so easily, especially when tradition and our comfortable preferences are the same thing. I don’t know if I can consistently get myself to ask in those situations, “What does God command regarding this?” I don’t know if I can, but I think it might be eye-opening if I did.

Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides.” That’s what I am whenever I teach someone that my tradition is what must be followed.