Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for ignoring God’s commands in order to uphold their own religious traditions.

Matthew 15:1-9

15 Then some Pharisees and men who taught the Jewish laws came from Jerusalem to talk to Jesus. They said, 2 “◄We think it is disgusting that your disciples disobey the traditions of our ancestors!/Why do your disciples disobey what our ancestors wrote down and our elders taught us?► [RHQ] They do not perform the proper ritual of washing their hands before they eat!” 3 Jesus answered them, “◄What is really disgusting is that you refuse to obey God’s commands just so that you can follow what your ancestors taught you!/Why do you refuse to obey what God commanded people to do, just so that you can follow your own traditions?► [RHQ] 4 God gave these two commands: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘People who speak evil about their father or mother must be executed.’ 5 But you tell people, ‘You can say to your father or mother, “What I was going to give to you to help provide for you, I have now promised to give to God.” ’ 6 And if you do that, you think that you do not need to give anything to help your parents. In that way, by teaching people your traditions, you disregard what God commanded. 7 You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said, 8 ‘These people talk as if they honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET]. 9 It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up as if I myself had commanded it.’ ”