Holding To The Tradition

Mark 7:1-3 ESV

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders,

Over time the Jews lost the meaning of cleansing and focused on the tradition of washing their hands. We must be on our guard to not let the divine to become common place, nor let our response to God devolve into a habit which is empty of the true meaning.