Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

8 ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

9 Their worship is a farce,

for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

10 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”

13 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

PEER PRESSURE Feeling need to follow course of action because friends and colleagues advise it or follow it; usually works negatively rather than positively (Prov. 18:24; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15:33; Heb. 3:13; 12:1). Instead of listening to the elder advisors of his father, Rehoboam submitted to pressure from his peers, “the young men who had grown up with him” (1 Kings 12:8; cp. 2 Chron. 13:7). In contrast, Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge so that he might reign well (2 Chron. 1:10).

TRADITION Teaching or ritual which is handed down. The term “tradition” has several usages. The term is often used to speak of denominations or distinct theological viewpoints, such as the Baptist tradition or the Reformed tradition. The term is also commonly used to refer to liturgical consistency or to historical practice, as in a tradition of the church.

24 There are “friends” who destroy each other,

but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”

13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.