You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions!

Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.

The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations. You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Food for thought!

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.
This is a strong statement, especially when made by Jesus against the people of his time. Is it any different today? Is it possibly true that we do put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions? This is what Jesus said and is possibly saying that we do. In order to understand Jesus' point, let us remember that the commandments of God are 10 (ten), which I assume you still remember. All the rest are human traditions. Yes, anything beyond and beside the ten commandments is human tradition. These include the traditions, the rules and laws of the church. Yes, these are not commandments of God. This does not mean that they are, therefore bad; they are good in as far as they reinforce the commandments of God. For instance, not eating meat on a Friday is a tradition of the church, not a commandment of God. The two are not on the same level; the commandments of God are supremely important.
In the time of Jesus, the religious scholars (scribes and Pharisees) had forgotten this fact and had transformed the religious rules and traditions into the essence of religion. To observe them was to please God; to break them was to greatly sin. This was their idea of goodness and of the service of God. That is why they constantly found either Jesus or his disciples at fault. on many occasions they accused Jesus of breaking the law. Just because Jesus had no use for all these regulations they considered him a bad man, just as we consider bad those who don't keep the laws, rules and discipline of our Catholic church.

There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying religion with human traditions and customs. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify goodness with certain so-called religious traditions. Church-going, bible-reading, careful financial giving, even time-tabled prayers do not make a man a good man just by observing them. The fundamental question is, how is our heart towards God and towards our brother or sister? And if in our heart there is enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward religious observances in the world will make us anything other than a hypocrite.