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Will the Theologians Please Sit Down  /  Chapter 4: How Jesus Overturned the Theologians  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 5
In Luke 11:37–41 and Mark 7:8, 13, Jesus confronts ceremonial washing and says tradition can make God’s word “of no effect”; what are some current church traditions (formal or informal) that can function like “washings of pitchers and cups,” keeping the outside clean while leaving greed, pride, or wickedness untouched?
Another way to ask: What church traditions today can focus on looking clean on the outside while leaving pride, greed, or sin untouched on the inside?

Direct Answer Bercot’s point is that any outward-focused, man-made tradition can function like ceremonial washings if it prioritizes external cleanliness while leaving the heart “full of greed and wickedness.” The transcript doesn’t name today’s specific traditions, but it gives a clear test for identifying them.

Support from Transcript:

  • In the dinner scene, the Pharisee “marveled that he had not first washed before dinner,” showing an outward purity standard.
  • Jesus’ diagnosis: “you… make the outside… clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.”
  • He calls them to inward change expressed in action: “rather give alms… then indeed all things are clean to you.”
  • Mark 7:8 summarizes the pattern: “Laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.”
  • Mark 7:13 gives the danger: “making the word of God of no effect… and many such things you do.”
  • Bercot insists these were “not really… oral law… from Moses… just the traditions of men.”
Discussion Follow-ups What practices in our churches are mainly about appearance or identity-signaling, and do they actually confront greed, pride, and wickedness?

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