Have you ever been that man or woman that tries to help others and is turned away? Have you ever been that person in need and when you reach out for help are made to feel as if you are not worthy. Tradition can be something that is held on too tightly. For many a year I can remember how my Mother always told me to dress nicely when going to church. I do think that it is rather important to look your best before going to the Lords home for he has given us all and we should show respect and reverence for him. However one of my problems with “Christians” when I got older was that far too often people were judged for what was on their back rather than in their heart. In my Grandmothers day it would be considered complete disrespect for someone to show up to church wearing jeans (faded no less) and a t-shirt. I can almost hear the gasps and complete shock for someone considering such a thing. But let us take a pause. ALL men and women are flawed. Christians or not sometimes we focus on the wrong things. Just because someone is a “Christian” doesn’t mean that they flawless. To be honest, God loves you and he wants to spend time with you. He sent Jesus to institute the Church. One that is holy, apostolic and catholic (meaning universal). EVERYONE is welcome in God’s church that comes out of respect. I am sure that God would want you to wear your very best. When entering God’s church you are putting yourself before God, the guy that made you, however if your “Sunday Best” is jeans and a t-shirt so be it. God loves you and sent his son to teach us that what is in our hearts is most important of all. While traditions are important they should not be at the expense of what God desires. Sure God would like you to be early and dressed in a suit but make no mistake he would rather have you there 5 minutes late and still wearing your work clothes than not at all. He loves you that much. He wants to spend time with you. Question is, are you making time for him in “your very best”? I will let you be the judge of that. I am no one to judge anyone, but I know that God loves you and would love to spend time with you. There are so many churches to attend and they each have their own esthetic. There truly is a place for everyone in God’s Church.
Mark 7:1-13
1Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; 4and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) 5And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" 6And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' 8You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men." 9And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother'; and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die'; 11but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) -- 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do."
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