The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. No one I know argues against handwashing, especially nowadays. You’ve probably never been so conscious of hygiene as you have in the past year. But of all people, Jesus defends His disciple’s unwashed hands in our reading! But no, it wasn’t really about hygiene, and yes mom, I will still wash my hands before I eat; and yes kids, you still need to take a shower. Jesus shows the real issue at stake is the flood of extra traditions and manmade commandments that the Pharisees and scribes tacked on to obedience to God. It's not just that the disciples didn’t wash their hands, it’s that they didn’t follow the handy hand-washing procedure handed down by the elders. The word “tradition” used several times here, just means “handed down.” The hand-washing protocol was alongside other ceremonies for washing (baptizing) cups, pots, vessels, and dining couches. There was a “proper way” for w...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today in our Gospel, in a dispute about handwashing, Jesus takes an unlikely position. He defends His disciples who had not washed their hands before eating. Neither Jesus nor the Pharisees were arguing about good hygiene—but the discussion was about ritual purity or cleanness instead. A question of religious observances. The Pharisees and scribes paid passionate attention to detail, and strictly obeyed the traditions passed down by the elders. Among their many traditions were a long list of ritual washings. This included special washings of hands, utensils, cookware, and dining couches.   Seeing Jesus’ disciples eating with unclean hands, they cried foul, because obviously Jesus hadn’t taught the their religious practices well. Jesus replies and shows that the heart of their whole “worship” was wrong. In fact, He shows that their heart wasn’t in it at all. They were more concerne...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Tonight we continue our sermon series on “Questions about Jesus that they don’t want answered.” The text is the reading you heard from Matthew 15:1-20, the Pharisees question about traditions. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Arguing with the Son of God is never a winning proposition. Whenever the Pharisees or others tried to catch Jesus in His words, or trip Him up, they ended up being snared in their own words. Jesus could quickly turn the tables on them, and expose the lie in their hearts. The Pharisees’ question today, was about why the disciples broke the tradition of the elders by eating with unwashed hands. This referred to certain ceremonial laws that the rabbis had recorded, but were not scriptural. Instead of answering their question, Jesus puts another one of their manmade traditions or laws to the test. Why? To show that they really we...