What Made Jesus Mad?Sample

Jesus and his posse were in Gennesaret at the time of this story, so it appears that the leaders came from Jerusalem on a mission to confront Jesus and chose to do so through the handwashing tradition his followers had ignored. This handwashing rule was added later, it wasn’t a part of the original law God had given. There is, of course, nothing wrong with handwashing. The issue here was about the way they did their handwashing. I believe Jesus was purposefully pushing the religious leaders’ buttons. This handwashing thing was just another way in which Jesus was making a statement about the hypocrisy of “rules taught by men” and the problem it caused for people having access to God. 

The brilliance of Jesus’ Corban example in this passage was that while the Pharisees were complaining about his disciples breaking the tradition of handwashing that had no basis in Scripture or had real bearing on anything of importance, such as ceremonial handwashing, they were clearly denying the teaching of the actual Word of God about caring for one’s family, something that was extremely important. 

The Pharisees were missing the spirit of the law and the real reason for washing. If your ceremonial handwashing is a way to demonstrate your worship of God, then by all means go ahead and wash your hands. But if you think you’re getting a better grade because you did it, then you have lost your way. In other words, if the way you raise your hands in worship or the posture you take in prayer helps you feel closer to God, that’s fantastic. But don’t look down on anyone else because they don’t do it or do it differently. 

Where is God challenging us today to think about the heart behind your spiritual habits & practices? How have we looked down on others because of their spiritual habits and practices?