“For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men… All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” Mark 7:8-9

New Traditions

Christmas is the time of traditions.

When my mother was a girl, she recalls being given an orange in her stocking every year as a special treat.

My father’s family was poor, so every year his mother would reuse Christmas toys as gifts in his stocking. He and his brother would get to play with the special Christmas toys on Christmas Day, then the toys were returned to his mother, who would save, rewrap them, and give them back in their stockings again the next year.

And for three generations now, every child in our family opens a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear to bed.

I’ve been thinking a lot about traditions recently. Traditions are wonderful. They build common memories and bonds and create feelings of being anchored. But not all traditions are created equal, and this year especially, some traditions might need to change.

In Mark 7, Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their traditions. The Pharisees were rigidly holding fast to every tradition handed down from their fathers, loving their traditions to the point that they found their identity in them.  But in their pursuit of maintaining the familiar, they lost sight of the heart of God, adding culture to God’s laws, until they were blind to the difference.

And when their long awaited Messiah came—ready to act and change the world, ready to answer their prayers—they couldn’t see Him. It threw them that Jesus wasn’t keeping all their man-made traditions. Focused so much on maintaining their normal, loving their life, wrapped up in their way of doing things, they missed that God Himself was moving among them, acting in power, answering their prayers, saving the lost.

Some traditions are good. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, “Stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught.” Jesus Himself kept many cultural traditions (Luke 4:16, for example), but He didn’t get so caught up in the details that He missed the purpose.

So I’ve been thinking about traditions. I’ve been asking myself: Are there some traditions I need to let go of? Which should I keep? Are there any traditions where I’ve lost sight of the Father’s heart? Are there new traditions I need to start? Have I gotten so wrapped up in the “how” of my traditions that I have missed the “why”?

This year, some of our traditions might look different. Let’s use this time to check our traditions against the heart of God.

 “You were not redeemed with corruptible things… from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ…” (1 Peter 1:18-19a).

Lord, thank You for teaching me flexibility. Thank You that You don’t leave us how You found us. Show me which traditions I need to change, which I should keep, and which I should start. Help me not to miss Your moving, and to focus on the “why” instead of the “how.” In Jesus, Name, Amen.