101: Tradition
OT Lesson: Genesis 12:10-16 (CEB)
When a famine struck the land, Abram went down toward Egypt to live as an immigrant since the famine was so severe in the land. Just before he arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a good-looking woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live. So tell them you are my sister so that they will treat me well for your sake, and I will survive because of you.”
When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful his wife was. When Pharaoh’s princes saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s household. Things went well for Abram because of her: he acquired flocks, cattle, male donkeys, men servants, women servants, female donkeys, and camels.
NT Lesson: Mark 7:1-13 (NRSV)
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’
Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God)—then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’
Sermon
Introduction
Churches in a town had a very bad squirrel problems. The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. They first formed a committee. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will. Sounds about right.
At the Baptist Church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Lutheran Church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunken squirrels can do.
But the Catholic Church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptised all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen any squirrel since.
Family Tradition
Jewish Tradition—Abraham
In today’s OT lesson, if you read it closely, you will find an unexpected side of Abraham. There was a famine in the land of Canaan, the promised land. So Abraham went to Egypt, the richest country in the world back then. So it was a kind of immigration which is not always easy and safe. Cultures are different. Languages are different. Customs are different. Politics are different. Religions and philosophies are different. Everything is different. In that strange place, Abraham was worried about his own safety. Long story short, Abraham gave his wife to Pharaoh so that the Pharaoh can sleep with his wife. And today’s OT lesson says that Abraham acquired flocks, cattle, male donkeys, men servants, women servants, female donkeys, and camels. In plain English, he got money. In English, what do you call a guy who forces a woman or women to sleep with other guys and collect money for that? I looked up the dictionary and learned a new vocabulary: It is a pimp. If you ever wondered how to say a pimp in Korean, it is 포주 (poju). I am not saying that Abraham was a professional pimp. But he definitely acted like one even with his own wife in today’s OT lesson. He got rich by selling his wife. He put his wife in danger to protect his safety.
Jewish Tradition—Isaac
In Genesis 26, Isaac, the son of Abraham, had another famine, and he immigrated to Gerar of Philistines. And he did the exact same thing what his father did to his mother. Like father, like son. In the new and strange place, Isaac felt threatened. Gerar was like a ghetto. People are tough and they do open carry—well, not the rifles but swords and spears probably. Isaac was very much fearful, “Oh, the people here are very tough and they even open carry the weapons. I might be killed here.” Then he came up with a brilliant idea. “I know what to do. I am going to do what my father did. My wife is beautiful and I am going to tell people that she is my sister. People will want to sleep with her, and they will be nice to me being the brother. I might be richer than my father!” So again, Isaac also put his wife in danger to protect his safety.
Jewish Tradition—Jacob
Now we have Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. Jacob once cheated his older brother Esau and took the legal right of being the eldest son. You may think ‘what is the big deal of being the eldest son?’ Well, Jacob was blessed as the eldest son by his father. But it was not all about a few words of blessings. It was also about money. According to the ancient Jewish tradition, the eldest son gets the double portion of other sons. In case of two sons, the first gets two thirds and the younger gets one third. For example, if Isaac has three million dollar, Esau was supposed to get two million, but now suddenly he has to get half of it. Those kind of things leads to murder even these days. And in the more barbaric society, Esau of course tried to kill Jacob. Jacob fled away from his brother Esau. In Genesis 32 and 33, Jacob finally returns to his home after a few decades. But Esau was coming towards him with four hundred warriors all with weapons. In today’s America, they were carrying rifles and machine guns. Jacob was terrified. Then Jacob came up with a brilliant idea.
First, he sent his servants and the flocks all the way in the front. It was to bribe his brother. “Hey brother. It is my gift. It is all yours. Why don’t you take my gift and go back home?” Sadly that did not work. Then Jacob had put some protective layers. He has four wives. Actually two wives and two maid-servants. Jacob had set those two maid-servants and their children up in the front, making them the first layer. Then his not-so-loving wife, Leah and her children in the middle, making them the second layer. And then Rachael, the love of his life, and her son Joseph, making them the third layer. And he stayed on the other side of Jabbok river all by himself. That is, he made his wives and children as his human shields. If Esau’s warriors attack and kill his family, he can hear the scream from the other side of the river. Being on the other side of the river, he will have enough time to run away because crossing the river takes long time. A husband is supposed to protect his wife. A father must protect his family. But Jacob had put their wives and children in danger, making them human shields to protect his own safety. Three generations in a row make a tradition.
Abusive Tradition
Great men and wonderful patriarchs in the Bible sold women for money and sacrificed their children for their safety. If that is not abusive, I do not know what it is. I jokingly labelled it a Jewish Tradition, but sadly it is a human tradition. Former president Ronald Reagan, when he was the governor of California, signed the no-fault-divorce into law which came into effect January 1st, 1970. Since then the suicide rates of married women in California dropped by twenty per cent. In other words, that many married women were trapped in domestic violence and abuse which they cannot escape. The only way out was taking their lives with their own hands. According to the World Health Organisation, sixty-nine percent of women across the globe are physically assaulted by their husbands or boyfriends, not by some strangers. And more women are killed by their male partners than by the collective violence such as war. This is a human tradition and reality.
Presbyterian Tradition
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees in today’s NT lesson. They abandon the commandment of God but they follow the elder’s tradition. In Greek, that reads παράδοσιν τῶν πρεσβυτέρων (paradosin presbyteron), that is literally the Presbyterian tradition. Ouch. Well, don’t worry. Of course Jesus does not mean the Presbyterian Church because we were not there and Calvin was not there yet as well. Jesus was talking about the firm standing traditions which define the Jewish identity, which distinguishes Jews from the gentiles. Needless to say Jesus was not denying all traditions. Jesus is not telling us today, ‘Hey Presbyterians in Lebanon, stop doing whatever good things you have been traditionally doing.’ There are good traditions and bad traditions. Sometimes or many times we do not know which is a bad tradition. We may even think it is a good one or necessary one. No matter what the tradition is, no matter how important or necessary that is, we need to break such traditions.
Jesus and Disciples Break Tradition
Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, not only criticised the traditions in today’s NT lesson, but also he broke many traditions himself. Jesus says, ‘You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition. You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me, I donated to church—then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’ Jesus says more in Matthew 5:21, ‘you have heard do not murder.’ In other words, ‘the tradition says not to murder. But I say to you, don’t even call your brother idiot.’ Jesus continues to break the traditions: ‘You have heard—the tradition says—do not commit adultery. But I say to you, do not even look at a woman lustfully. You have heard—the tradition says—an eye for an eye, but I say to you, forgive. You have heard—the tradition says—hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemy.’
How about His disciples? The tradition says ‘Jews shall not go into gentile’s house.” Peter broke the tradition and went into the house of a centurion to preach and to baptise. Paul broke the tradition even more and became an apostle to the gentiles. Like Jesus, the apostles were also breaking the traditions.
John Calvin Breaks Tradition
As you know, we Presbyterians have our very root in John Calvin. The tradition back then said, ‘indulgence is OK and necessary.’ John Calvin and other reformers broke the tradition and reformed the church. The tradition used to say that the Bible must be only in Latin. John Wycliff, Martin Luther and other reformers broke the tradition and translated the Bible into their local languages. The tradition used to say that the lay people should not read the Bible and understand it. John Calvin broke the tradition and wrote the commentary for the entire Bible, except the Revelation and the Song of Songs. The tradition used to say that the common and lowly people should not learn to read. John Calvin broke the tradition and established a school, which is still standing and educating in Geneva, Switzerland. Like Jesus and His disciples, John Calvin and other early reformers were also breaking the traditions.
Abraham Lincoln Breaks Tradition
Abraham Lincoln did not officially claim to be a Presbyterian. But I think he was a Presbyterian because he was attending Presbyterian Churches his whole life. He attended the First Presbyterian Church in Spring Field, IL, and the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. He also asked a Presbyterian pastor to officiate the funeral of his son. So this Presbyterian Abraham Lincoln broke the tradition when the tradition back then said, ‘Black people are slaves having no legal and economical rights. And the slavery is good for the economy.’ The Presbyterian Abraham Lincoln broke the tradition and ended the slavery once and for all in this country.
Conclusion
This church, the First Presbyterian Church in Lebanon, Indiana has long history. I believe we are going close to two hundred years. It is long enough time to build many traditions. But our true tradition is breaking the traditions. Jesus broke the traditions. Peter broke the traditions. Paul broke the traditions. John Calvin broke the traditions. Presbyterian Abraham Lincoln broke the traditions. So this is our true tradition—breaking the traditions.
Racism is a tradition. Let us break the tradition. Sexism is a tradition. Let us break the tradition. Bullying is a tradition. Sexual harassment is a tradition. Homophobia is a tradition. Domestic abuse is a tradition. Misogyny is a tradition. Hatred is a tradition. Discrimination is a tradition. Political polarisation is a tradition. Let us break all those bad traditions in Jesus name.
Friends, we are Christians and we are Presbyterians. We have long history of breaking bad traditions. And our one and only true Presbyterian tradition is breaking the traditions. We can do this and we have to do this. Because our true tradition gives us our true identity as Presbyterians following the footsteps of John Calvin, and as Christians following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, our Lord ans Saviour. Amen.
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