The prophets who ministered prior to the fall of Jerusalem had taught the people that their religious observances had to come from the heart. To worship God any other way meant to practice hypocrisy. As far back as the ministry of Samuel, God told the people that He wanted their obedience and not their sacrifices (1 Sam. 15:22), and this truth was also taught in the psalms (50:8–14; 51:16). Isaiah had proclaimed this message (Isa. 1:11–17; 58:1–14), and so did the prophet Micah (6:6–8), but the people didn’t listen. Life was peaceful and secure in those days, and it was much easier to maintain the traditions than to really meet with God and have a “heart experience” of worship.
Zechariah wasn’t condemning traditions as such. He was emphasizing the fact that the true spiritual life can’t be turned on and off at our convenience, so that we serve God one minute and forget Him the next. If we feast, we must do it to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31); if we fast, we must do it to honor Him. The Lord must be the center of our lives and the reason for our actions. If we keep a fast (or any other religious tradition) just to please ourselves and win the admiration and approval of others, then God is not pleased and the activity was wasted.
God’s final answer was given later (Zech. 8:19): all four fasts will one day be turned into feasts! This would take place during the Kingdom Age when Messiah will sit on the throne, judging with justice and truth. (Isaiah saw the same picture; Isa. 61:2–3; 65:19.) So, instead of living in the past tense and mourning over calamities, why not live in the future tense and rejoice over what God has promised to do for His people?
The rebuke (vv. 8–14). Zechariah reminded the people of the way their forefathers routinely practiced their religion but failed to hear God’s Word and obey it from their hearts. That was the reason Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. Their “religion” was just a part of their lives; it wasn’t the very heart of their lives. They could go to the temple and piously present their prayers and sacrifices, but then leave the temple to break God’s law, worship idols, and abuse other people.
Through the prophets, the Lord had called the people to practice justice, but the leaders had continued to exploit the people for personal gain. The rulers of the nation had ignored the law of Moses and refused to show compassion toward the poor, the widows and orphans, and the aliens in the land (Ex. 22:22–24; Deut. 10:18–22; Amos 2:6–8; 5:11–12, 21–24). God wasn’t interested in their sacrifices and prayers so much as the obedience of their hearts.
The danger of tradition is that it can easily turn into traditionalism. “Tradition is the living faith of the dead,” wrote theologian Jerislav Pelikan; “traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Traditionalism means going through the outward motions instead of honoring the Lord from our heart; it means participating in a religious event but failing to have an inner spiritual experience.
Sometimes the only way the Lord can bring us back to reality is to force us to endure suffering. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word” (Ps. 119:67). When we find ourselves in the furnace of affliction, we turn to God and His promises, because that’s the only hope we have. The Lord had to send the Jewish people into exile before they’d learn to turn from idols and appreciate all the blessings they had because of God’s grace.
The word tradition simply means “that which is passed along.” It comes from a Latin word that means “to hand over.” The basic doctrines of the Christian faith must be handed from generation to generation (1 Tim. 2:2; 1 John 1:1–3; 1 Cor. 11:2; 1 Thess. 2:15; 3:6; Jude 3), but the customs and traditions of the early church don’t carry the same authority as the inspired Word of God. In fact, as times change, some of these customs may be detrimental to the work of the Lord. To institute four fasts because of the tragedies that occurred in Jerusalem, and yet not repent because of the sins that caused these tragedies, was to miss the whole purpose of God’s discipline.
Centuries ago, when the first missionaries went to Moravia, they weren’t allowed to preach in the Slavic language! Why? Because the only “holy languages” the church approved were Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Fortunately, the church leaders had sense enough to revoke this foolish edict; otherwise, evangelism would have been impossible. Believers today who insist that we sing only the psalms in our public worship, accompanied only by an organ or a piano, are captive to traditions that have no biblical basis. City congregations that follow a Sunday time schedule that was tailored for the rural community may be losing opportunities to reach urbanites with the gospel. Over the years, I’ve been privileged to minister in many churches of different denominations, and I’ve seen how dead traditions can become roadblocks to progress.
Churches are like families; each one has its own set of traditions, many of which may be good. The truths of God’s Word don’t change, but changing circumstances reveal new principles and new applications of that Word. The old Youth for Christ slogan said it perfectly: we must be “geared to the times, but anchored to the Rock.”
Jesus dealt with the question of tradition when He was ministering here on earth (Matt. 15; Mark 7). He carefully distinguished between the inspired Word of God that never changes and man-made traditions that are always subject to review and revision. Final authority for faith and practice must rest in the Word of God. “Tradition is a guide and not a jailer,” wrote novelist W. Somerset Maugham, but history reveals that it’s a difficult thing for many people to break with tradition. It’s easier to have a religion of habit than a religion of the heart. Churches, families, and individual believers need to examine their cherished traditions in the light of God’s truth. Perhaps some of our fasts need to be turned into feasts (Zech. 8:18)!