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| Concerning the Pharisees and Scribes Who Came and Inquired, Why Do Thy Disciples Transgress the Tradition of the Elders?
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8. Concerning the
Pharisees and Scribes Who Came and Inquired, Why Do Thy Disciples
Transgress the Tradition of the Elders?
“Then there came to Him from Jerusalem
Pharisees and scribes, saying,
Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For
they wash not their hands when they eat bread.”5403
He who observes at what time the
Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus, saying, “Why
do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders,” etc.,
will perceive that Matthew of necessity wrote not simply that Pharisees
and scribes from Jerusalem came to the Saviour to inquire of Him the
matters before us, but put it thus, “Then come to Him from
Jerusalem.” What time, therefore, are we to understand by
“then”? At the time when Jesus and His disciples
crossed over and came in the boat to the land of Gennesaret, when the
wind ceased from the time that Jesus entered into the boat, and when
“the men of that place knowing Him sent into all that region
round about, and brought unto Him all that were sick, and besought Him
that they might touch if it were only the border of His garment, and as
many as touched were made whole.”5404
At that time came to Him from
Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, not struck with admiration at the
power which was in Jesus, which healed those who only touched even the
border of His garment, but in a censorious spirit, accusing the
disciples before their Teacher, not concerning the transgression of a
commandment of God, but of a single tradition of the Jewish
elders. And it is probable that this very charge of these
censorious persons is a proof of the piety of the disciples of Jesus,
who gave to the Pharisees and scribes no opportunity of censure with
reference to the transgression of the commandments of God, as they
would not have brought the charge of transgression against the
disciples, as transgressing the commandment of the elders, if they had
had it in their power to censure those whom they accused, and to show
that they were transgressing a commandment of God. But do not
suppose that these things go to establish the necessity of keeping the
law of Moses according to the letter, because the disciples of Jesus up
to that time kept it; for not before He suffered did He “redeem
us from the curse of the law,”5405
who in
suffering for men “became a curse for us.” But just
as fittingly Paul became a Jew to the Jews that he might gain
Jews,5406
what strange thing is it that the Apostles,
whose way of life was passed among the Jews, even though they
understood the spiritual things in the law, should have used a spirit
of accommodation, as Paul also did when he circumcised
Timothy,5407
and offered
sacrifice in accordance with a certain legal vow, as is written in the
Acts of the Apostles?5408
Only, again,
they appear fond of bringing accusations, as they have no charge to
bring against the disciples of Jesus with reference to a commandment of
God, but only with reference to one tradition of the elders. And
especially does this love of accusation become manifest in this, that
they bring the charge in presence of those very persons who had been
healed from their sickness; in appearance against the disciples, but in
reality purposing to slander their Teacher, as it was a tradition of
the elders that the washing of hands was a thing essential to
piety. For they thought that the hands of those who did not wash
before eating bread were defiled and unclean, but that the hands of
those who had washed them with water became pure and holy, not in a
figurative sense, in due relation to the law of Moses according to the
letter. But let us, not according to the tradition of the elders
among the Jews, but according to sound reason, endeavour to purify our
own actions and so to wash the hands of our souls, when we are about to
eat the three loaves which we ask from Jesus, who wishes to be our
friend;5409
for with hands that
are defiled and unwashed and impure, we ought not to partake of the
loaves.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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