I was teaching a class on bible times and began the sections on the Hebrew Sabbath telling the class that it started at Sundown on Friday and ending at sundown on Saturday. A middle aged man in the class became red in the face and said I was wrong. “Sunday is the Sabbath,” he shouted, “and the Sabbath is the seventh, and that’s the truth.” He glared at me and dared me to say anything different.
He had grown up with that understanding and was angry that anyone including a preacher would question it. His response may reflect our own attitudes about our faith more than we think. When our traditions are challenged we often become defensive and are not open to new information. Tradition can be a most difficult master to escape and yet Jesus teaches us to seek the truth and be set free.
In Matthew 13:3 Jesus says, “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”
What traditions enslave us? Why are we afraid to seek the truth? Why does that make us angry?
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