Christ and Religious Tradition
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the April 19, 2014
Sabbath School Lesson
“These people honor me with their
lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their
teachings are merely human rules.” Matthew 15:8-9, NIV
When I
attended a Seventh-day Adventist college back in the 1970s, my wife and I lived
in a run-down apartment complex that had a disproportionately large percentage
of theology students compared to other student housing around the campus.
Perhaps this was because theology students are proverbially poor in this world’s
goods. Considering the lack of benefits, meaningful retirement plans and
low-level compensation maybe this was preparation for things to come. Back then,
when my engine blew a head gasket from all the miles travelled between churches
in the high heat while pastoring one summer in Kansas, I had to do the repairs
myself. While some enjoy automotive work as a hobby, working under a shade tree
in hundred degree heat to replace a head gasket was far from enjoyable. I had
to do the job twice because I did it incorrectly the first time due to my lack
of experience.
But before
that experience and back at the college, as sundown each Friday approached,
normal activities would cease, and more often than not, we would all sit in our
front yards watching each other, afraid to do much for fear that what we were
doing might be seen as transgressing the sacred hours of the Sabbath. The
vehicles had all been washed, and the casseroles for Sabbath dinner had been
made. Everything had been prepared for church in the morning. Now we were left
to our own devices until Sabbath Eve vespers at the college church.
One activity
that was never challenged was a neighborhood game of Frisbee catch. For some
reason, this had received popular endorsement as a proper Sabbath pastime. We
could not play catch with a football or a baseball without catching the evil
eye of some saint who felt it was most improper, but the Frisbee was apparently
blessed. We tried to understand why this was so. We thought that maybe the
pointed ends of the football or the hardness of the baseball made it too
dangerous to toss about on Sabbath, but anyone who has ever been hit by the
hard edge of a flying Frisbee can tell you that can cause injury to the inattentive
as well. We failed to come up with a rationale for Frisbee acceptance. We found
it difficult to conceive of a God looking down and seeing people playing on
Sabbath and starting to judge them for it and then saying, “Oh, it’s alright!
It’s just a Frisbee.” Maybe Wham-o missed an endorsement opportunity here. Imagine
the cachet of being able to claim your product was approved by God.
To be sure,
there are those who would remove any opportunity for pleasurable recreation from
the hours of the Sabbath citing the prophet Isaiah.[i]
However, it may be hard to love a God that is always looking to zap people who
are innocently having a good time. People may have unknowingly represented such
a God to their children when they restricted their pleasure without any real
biblical precedent for such strictures. A case in point would be those parents
who would tell their children they had to stay out of the water on Sabbath
because God wouldn’t like it, or even worse telling their children they could
wade, but swimming was out of the question. To enforce this they would roll up their
children’s pant legs and admonish them if the bottoms of the legs got wet they
would be considered Sabbath breakers. It is strange to think that God would
love nothing better than to catch naughty little children with pants legs that
had gotten damp on the Sabbath.
All of this
legalism, for that is what it was, would have been bad enough if it were based
on the Ten Commandments or some other biblical precept, but worse, it was based
on traditions that had arisen out of an improper understanding of the role of
the commandments for the Christian. Today, we laugh about the Jews who had to
fasten a handkerchief to their garments before Sabbath instead of carrying one
on Sabbath. Fastened to the clothing it became clothing and thus not a separate
burden. Yet as ridiculous as this may seem is it any more so than the examples
I have already cited? This all distorts the character of God and alienates
those who would otherwise be drawn close to Him. By our traditions, we build
walls that prevent people from approaching God and finding out who He really
is.
The
Seventh-day Adventist denomination has become extremely good at this. For
instance, in the past, even though there is no biblical command to do so,[ii]
they have advocated a vegetarian diet as essential to a full spiritual
experience. Often this took the form of a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. Dairy and
eggs were allowed to insure adequate balance to the diet. Now, however, for
many it is not enough of a spiritual experience to reach that level. Some are
going so far as to maintain a vegan diet is essential, and some beyond that are
advocating a paleo-diet where nothing is cooked. I even knew someone who became
convinced that it was necessary to only eat the vegan diet twice per day at
certain hours, and if others, family or visitors, did not eat at those times,
he refused to eat with them or even come to the table to talk, his tradition
had such a hold over him. All of this is derived from the idea that God desires
for us to enjoy good health. Something appears to get lost in the
interpretation of that standard, however. We work long hours each day of the
week, sitting on our rears before a computer screen in poorly ventilated work
places receiving little opportunity for exercise, sunshine and fresh air, then
on Sabbath we are expected to do the same for hours in a church building, but
then we take pride in how healthy we are because we are vegans. Does anyone
else sense a disconnect here?
Some might
say that we have Sunday to do all that outdoor fun and games. But that is not
biblical either as the very commandment we claim to be honoring with our
traditions commands us to work six days a week.[iii]
Some feel that the Sabbath hours should be used only for benevolent works such
as helping others or introducing them to Jesus. But in our modern world with a
five-day work week, maybe we have things backwards. Perhaps we should enjoy
restorative recreational activities on the Sabbath and do the benevolent work
on Sundays. Why restrict benevolence to Sabbath? Is it a greater sin to enjoy
restful outdoor activities on the Sabbath or to seek our own pleasure on Sunday
when the commandment has ordered us to work? If we must work, what greater work
could there be than to emulate Jesus’ benevolence toward others in that work?
For many
centuries, the Jews hid themselves behind the wall of their traditions to
protect themselves from the pagan influences in the rest of the world. This
hindered their ability to adequately represent the character of God to that
world. Eventually, it even distorted their own perception of God to the point
that they could not recognize the Son of God who came in the character of God
as was prophesied.[iv]
This was the case even though He came as a Jew among the Jews. Perhaps we are
in danger of failing to recognize the character of God as well. As a result, we
can fail to emulate it in our characters and may fail to see or appreciate it
when it is emulated in others.
When we
faithfully show up in church each week, yet choose not to socialize with our
friends and neighbors because we see our lives and theirs as being too far
apart for such familiarity, do we truly believe we are representing the same
Jesus who sat talking with a Samaritan woman on a hot day by the town well?[v]
That woman’s response to his initial request for a drink illustrates how high
the wall of tradition had become that prevented conversations like the one
Jesus was now having with her. Yet in His willingness to overcome tradition to
breach that barrier was the seed of a promise of salvation for many, both on
that day and in the future when thousands would come to enjoy a relationship
with God in a single day.[vi]
Perhaps we
should ask ourselves if our extra-biblical traditions are a help or a hindrance
to introducing others to a loving God who desires above all else to do what is
necessary to save and restore His relationship with His people. He wanted it so
much that He would rather die in the person of Jesus than lose it.[vii]
In a sense, He was crucified on those traditions to build a bridge over the
gulf they had created between God and man.
