When you lose the purpose of what you’re doing, you’re sliding into traditionalism …

If you’ve ever seen an AT&T truck or van parked alongside a road, you’ve probably noticed some orange cones placed at the front and rear of the vehicle.

All AT&T drivers are required to place bright orange cones around their vehicle whenever they park. It’s a company policy implemented to heighten safety for their drivers, vehicles, and other persons and traffic nearby. This policy is such a routine practice by AT&T employees you might say it’s a tradition.

But …

I’ve noticed these drivers place their safety cones around their vehicle all the time, no matter where they are. This tradition is practiced not just when vehicles are on job sites performing work, but I’ve seen these company drivers in grocery store parking lots stop, park … and yes, even in a parking lot, they get out and place the orange cones around their vehicle before going into the store for a quick, personal purchase … even when there are no other vehicles or people near their vehicle!

Others have noted in online chat groups observing AT&T drivers placing these traditional orange cones around their vehicles when parking at Burger King for lunch, or making a quick stop at Home Depot, etc. It seems like anywhere they park, out come the cones!

It’s one thing to instill in drivers a safety practice of setting out cones when they’re working and traffic is passing closely by their vehicles … but is it really necessary to set out the cones while on a lunch break at Burger King?

It is possible to have a practice or tradition become so detached from its purpose that the observance becomes little more than traditionalism, which is a practice of empty tradition.

Traditions can start because there’s a valuable purpose for making something a consistent practice or observance. But it was empty tradition, or traditionalism, that was all the rage among some of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, and it’s something He found to be abhorrent. These religious leaders were ignoring God’s law and replacing it with traditions of their own. It was one of these empty traditions that led some Pharisees and other religious leaders to confront Jesus:

“Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, ‘Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat,” Matthew 15:1-2.

Like being committed to placing bright orange cones around a vehicle parked in a half-empty lot during lunch break, the religious leaders didn’t like the fact Jesus’ disciples weren’t observing the traditionalism they were mired in. Jesus responded with a scolding:

“Jesus replied, ‘And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, “Honor your father and mother,” and “Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.” But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, “Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.” In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”‘ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth,'” Matthew 15:3-11.

The disciples were afraid Jesus had offended the religious leaders, but in His response, we see the emptiness and danger of traditionalism:

“Then the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?’ Jesus replied, ‘Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch,” Matthew 15:12-14.

The Apostle Paul would later give us a warning to steer clear of empty traditions and, instead, make sure as disciples of Jesus that we keep our focus on following Him:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority,” Colossians 2:6-10.

Do you have a practice or practices in your life that are as empty as setting out orange cones in a parking lot? Have you given greater value to some of your own traditions than you do the Word of God? How do you distinguish between observing some healthy tradition from falling into traditionalism?

Scotty