The Threat of Tradition: Matthew 9:32-34

Coming immediately on the tail end of the miracle we read about in the last episode, we learn about another miracle that Jesus did, and this miracle both prompts the praise of those present, as well as the ridicule of the religious leaders. In three short verses, we discover an amazing miracle, the people taking notice, and the religious leaders immediately discounting the divine nature of Jesus’ power.

Let’s read what happened then dive into what we can learn that is both interesting and applicable for our lives today. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 32, Matthew tells us that:

³² As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

When reading this miracle, one of the first things that stand out in my mind was that in most of the previous demon-possessed miracles, the evil spirits scream or cry out about Jesus being God’s Son or that they know who He is. However, this miracle is different, because this demon apparently caused muteness.

Perhaps the Pharisees saw this as an opportunity to claim what they decided to claim, namely that Jesus is simply one demon casting out another demon using Satan’s own power. After all, this claim only works if there isn’t a counterclaim being made. Imagine for a moment that the demon coming out of the man claims that Jesus is God’s Son, as many of the other ones had done, and the Pharisees respond by claiming Jesus is just another demon. In an odd twist, we’d be forced to logically side with the demons in their claim because the Pharisees claim would be less believable.

This scenario would be like a person named Bob telling you he is mortal enemies with a guy named Sam, while Bill standing in the corner counters with the claim that Bob and Sam aren’t enemies, but brothers.

In this situation, we’d be better off trusting the claim of those involved and rejecting the third party unless the third party has some strong evidence to back their claim up. In the case of Jesus verses the demons versus the Pharisees, the most logical conclusion is to accept that in this one instance, the demons may actually be truthful.

While Jesus doesn’t respond directly to the Pharisee’s challenge in this passage, they do make the claim again, and at that point Jesus does respond. While I haven’t looked ahead at our schedule yet, I’m pretty sure that event is coming up.

However, what does this mean for us living today?

In my own mind, this event challenges me to check my own motives when I want to claim someone or something is leading people towards God or away from Him. While there are clear examples of each, a gray area does exist where it is difficult to decide on. The example of a gray area is if we see someone who is believing one truth about God and one lie about God leading others to also believe the one truth and one lie. Is this person helping others, or harming them? Sure the new believer is being helped because of the truth, but the lie is not helpful, and, depending on the person and situation, if the lie is exposed as false, will that also negatively affect the close truth, leading to the newly converted person rejecting both?

I honestly don’t believe anyone aside from Jesus knows 100% of the truth, but I also know that the more certain we are about a specific belief, the more closed-minded we can become. I am very likely guilty of being closed-minded on certain subjects as well. Being closed-minded isn’t an issue if the belief is the truth, but when we cannot say we are 100% certain of all truth, then it would be better to remain open-minded, because God is more than willing to teach those who come to Him to learn His truth.

I will be the first to not judge anyone for bringing others to Jesus while believing both truths and lies. There are likely those who believe me to be an example of one such person. In this regard, I am happy to let God judge and sort out the details. However, I am also well aware that there are dangers in following anything other than the Bible. History has proved repeatedly that when the Bible is filtered through anything else, people are deceived and they give up on God’s truth. This is why I try to let the Bible teach as much as possible in these podcast episodes, and these blog posts and podcast episodes actually are ways I challenge myself to let the Bible teach me personally.

Tradition is only as good as it is grounded in scriptures. If a traditional belief or idea counters what the Bible teaches, then we must discard the tradition in favor of the Bible in order to have a clear conscience. The Pharisees were blinded to seeing who Jesus was because they had placed their traditional understanding of the scriptures ahead of a clear reading of it – and because they rejected Jesus in favor of their traditions, they couldn’t help but claim that Jesus was using Satanic forces to heal others rather than using God’s power. If they admitted Jesus was from God, then they would have incriminated themselves for rejecting Him.

The same thing can happen to us today if we filter our reading of the Bible through our tradition. If we only read the Bible looking through the lens of our tradition, we will miss, ignore, discount, or simply reject scriptures that teach the opposite. Those less trapped by tradition in this passage stood in wonder and amazement, saying in verse 33, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel”. These people were less focused on keeping tradition and more focused on paying attention to what God was doing through Jesus right in front of them.

Almost every tradition has roots in some scattered scriptural references. Many of today’s traditions began because of cultural pressure and compromise. Ultimately, traditions are never corrected because of pride. When rejecting a tradition in favor of a Biblical truth, expect pressure from others. Following tradition is easy, but tradition caused the people who should have recognized Jesus, namely the religious leaders who knew the prophecies and the scriptures the best, to reject Him instead. Tradition threatens us in the same way today when we don’t remain grounded in God’s Word!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and choose to focus on letting God’s Word be your filter for life. Intentionally push back against tradition until you are 100% certain it is Biblically centered. If there is even 1 verse or passage that does not support a tradition, then you cannot be 100% certain of it.

Also, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to let the Bible be your guide and your compass. While other people can give you ideas to think about, their ideas are only as good as they align with what the Bible teaches. Ideas that run counter to the Bible are worthless from the perspective of eternity. As always, let the Bible be your guide and your filter for life.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!