Jesus is so popular that in today's passage the only thing the Pharisees can find to criticize is that His disciples haven't observed ceremonial washing before eating.
"The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they return from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)" (Mark 7:1-4) Mark explains ceremonial washing for the benefit of those of us who are Gentiles. Most cultures observe hygienic washing before a meal, but that isn't what's going on here. The Pharisees of Jesus' day valued rules and traditions more than they valued compassion. Remember how they wanted to prevent Jesus from healing on the Sabbath because they felt it constituted working on the Sabbath? In that instance they cared nothing for the needs of the man with the withered hand or his probable inability to make a living due to his handicap. In the same way they feel no compassion for the hungry disciples. If the Pharisees are so bothered about the washing, why didn't they supply water for the disciples? Furthermore, why do they never supply food for the disciples when they see them going hungry?
"So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, 'Why don't Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?'" (Mark 7:5) This washing is a tradition made up by man ("the tradition of the elders"), not by God. It is not a commandment. Yet they use this rule to subtly accuse Jesus and His disciples of being unrighteous men. They don't dare come straight out and make an accusation, for the crowds love Jesus too much, but the suggestion they make is that no one who eats with unwashed hands can be trusted.
Jesus answers His accusers in the same way He answered Satan: with Scripture. "He replied, 'Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: '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.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." (Mark 7:6-*) Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 29, a chapter that sets forth God's intention to allow Judah to be defeated and taken captive. In the book of Isaiah the Lord accuses the people of turning things upside down and of having replaced His laws with man's laws until they can no longer understand godly wisdom.
It's not just the people of Jesus' day who had to be on guard against allowing manmade traditions to take precedence over God's commandments. We are all in danger of allowing this to happen. Services in our churches and synagogues tend to follow a particular order and we tend to do a lot of the same things every week. We have to be careful that we don't end up simply going through the motions. It's possible to attend every service and to sing all the songs and to put money in the offering plate without feeling close to the Lord. We also have to be careful not to allow our sense of "this is how it has always been done" to blind us to the needs of our fellow man. For example, a person who feels the need to come to the altar and accept Christ as Lord shouldn't have to wait for the prayer time of the service; he or she should be free to do so during any part of the service. No one should hinder anyone from coming to Christ. No one should tell a person to sit back down and wait for the altar call. Such a thing would be a terrible sin, and Jesus is likening the attitude of the Pharisees to such a sin. They are hindering the needs of their fellow man by insisting that rules and traditions made up by men be followed. If the Pharisees wanted to fulfill the laws of God, they should have been supplying the needs of the hungry disciples, not criticizing them for failing to do a ceremonial washing. The disciples probably would have observed the washing if they'd had water or if they hadn't been so hungry they couldn't wait to wash.
God clearly shows us His heart in today's passage. He cares deeply about the needs of human beings. He is merciful and compassionate. He intends for us to have a servant's heart, just as Jesus had, and to supply the needs of our fellow man. We cannot claim to love the Lord if we don't also love the human beings that the Lord created. There is no better way to demonstrate our love for the Lord than to be like Him and to do the things He would do.
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