Do you have any traditions for Christmas that your family has passed down through the years? I think the most delightful for Robbie and I is the annual watching of Die Hard as we put up the Christmas tree. “Ho, Ho, Ho…now I have a machine gun.” C’mon? What’s more Christmasy than that?

Traditions are great. They can keep us in touch with our history and even connect us with what is unique about our family or community. Traditions, however, can become troublesome if we allow them to take precedence over the more important issues of life. Spiritual communities are especially susceptible to that. That’s what we’ll be considering this Sunday as we read Matthew 15:1-20 in our study of Matthew.

The passage starts out with a controversy over hand washing. This wasn’t about hygiene – it was about ceremonial hand washing (Netilat Yadayim) required in the Talmud before eating bread (or anything else, by implication). It is still a tradition to this day among observant Jewish people.

V6, 8, 17-20 sum up Jesus’ response to the Pharisees. How would you word what it is that Jesus is trying to communicate about religious traditions and rules?

What does Jesus point to as being the most important issue when it comes to our relationship with God and how we live our lives in this world (v19)?

It’s not addressed in this passage per se, but how do we go about seeing a change take place in our hearts if righteousness doesn’t come from the outside in?

I hope this proves to be an encouraging contemplation of the Gospel of grace. See you on Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.