11. Matthew 15:1-9: Jesus on money teaches us not to set aside God’s commands through our traditions

This is the 11^th post as I attempt to visit everything (pretty much!) Jesus said about money in the gospels over 2 weeks. In order to do this I will be putting up around two posts each day. This is coinciding with a 2-week preaching series that we are going through at Community Church Putney- Jesus On Giving.

We have all been given a set of expectations and traditions from our families and culture, and this is particularly in the use of money. You know the sort of thing: 

‘Never a borrower or lender be’; ‘How much money is enough? Just a little more than you have’: ‘Never spend your money before you’ve earned it’; ‘A penny saved is a penny earned’; ‘Don’t throw good money after bad’; ‘charity begins at home’; ‘Don’t give to the church. They should be giving their money to you’…

Many of us were not brought up in an atmosphere of faith and sacrificial generosity, but of get all you can, keep all you can, retire as early as you can!

The Jewish teachers in this episode, had the bible,  but also many additional ‘man made’ laws that they kept. Unfortunately, their traditions became more important to them than being generous to those in need. 

Jesus on money teaches us to not to let any of our traditions trump God’s will that we be generous.

Jesus taught, 

‘Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

‘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 15:1-9)

When I was a child I loved cartoons like Tom and Jerry. Tom would have a ‘devil’ on one shoulder who would be tempting him to eat Jerry, whilst on the other shoulder an ‘angel' would be trying to persuade him to do the right thing. In our use of money we can have our parents', grand parents’, siblings’… attitude to money on one shoulder and Jesus’ will on the other- our traditions and Jesus’ will can be in conflict within us.

Take a moment to ask God to search you: What traditions to money do you have within you? Are you allowing any traditions to stop you from being sacrificially generous?