Travelling lightly

So the Pharisees and teachers of the Law asked Jesus, ‘Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?’

Jesus answered them, ‘How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote:
   “These people, says God, honour me with their words,
      but their heart is really far away from me.
   It is no use for them to worship me,
      because they teach human rules
      as though they were my laws!”‘  (verses 5-8)

Read Mark 7:1-23

Go to an interstate bus terminal or an airport and you will see plenty of them! People struggling to carry a huge amount of baggage they believe they need to travel. Of course not all are like that. A few travel with just a minimum of luggage.

How are you travelling with your faith? Has your Christianity become a burden for you to carry, because you are loaded down with traditions that you have had handed down to you or taken on board yourself? Or are you travelling lightly?

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law knew how to load people up with traditions – about cleanliness, food, table manners, nearly every area of life. But Jesus came to topple the monster of tradition that can weigh us down. With faith in Jesus and by living by the grace of God we can travel lightly, virtually baggage-free as Christians.

Heavenly Father, thank you for those who lead our church. Give them the wisdom to know which traditions benefit us and which ones burden us. Give me also that wisdom. Amen.

by Ray Schulz, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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