And he said to
them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order
to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, `Honor your father and your
mother,' and, `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to
death.' But you say that if a man says
to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from
me is Corban' (a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything
for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition
that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." Again Jesus
called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand
this. Nothing outside a man can make him `unclean' by going into him. Rather,
it is what comes out of a man that makes him `unclean.'" After he had left
the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that
enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean'? For it doesn't go into
his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying
this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") He went on: "What comes
out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts,
come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice,
deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from
inside and make a man unclean."
In a Nutshell
Jesus was very upset. God’s law is given to us so we can be cleaned from the inside out, because when evil comes it lodges deep-down.
Questions
This is the 2nd time we’ve read this passage. We are trying to connect what Jesus says about parents with clean food and evil hearts.
Sometimes as we read Mark’s Gospel it's seems Jesus changes the topic and it is hard to follow. In this story, for example, one minute it is the law about parents and the next Jesus is talking about true cleanliness. Then He tells us how our hearts need a change from the inside. How are these things connected?
Let's think about this for a bit. My hunch is that though Jesus was upset, He was not ballistic. He was trying to help these people. Mark was trying to help his us, his readers, understand something very important. Jesus was saying that our life does not become OK just by acting religiously and washing ourselves. He knew everything was not OK. He knew that these people, like us, had issues, deep issues. Some of these issues are within ourselves and some have to do with the way we relate to each other. Sometimes things are not good between parents and children. Jesus also knew when people were faking it, telling the world that everything was hunky-dory because they had washed themselves properly. Just because they and their parents had given up worrying about some problem, doesn't mean it's fixed. Just because you've stopped worrying about some friendship that's gone wrong, doesn't mean it's going well. Just because you don't admit how disappointed you are with someone doesn't mean you are relating well. Jesus pointed out that when these grown-up children were polite to their parents they might as well have been cursing them. That's when Jesus started talking about true cleanliness. He knew how "dirty" parents and children can be on each other.
To pretend on the outside that all is OK is faking it. Jesus hated faking it. People who wanted to fake it could not stay around Him for too long. He made them uneasy. And here He was upset because inheritance spoils people's lives. When that happens parents and children need a basic change in the way they relate to each other. They need to find a way to put things right.
That's why God’s law is given to us. The law about honouring parents is to help us live happy lives but the inheritance rules worked out by the religious leaders had stuffed that up completely. They made parents and children dirty with each other - they needed a good refreshing swim in the bath of God's forgiveness.
Inheritance is what parents leave behind for their children. And so when inheritance takes over people live their lives waiting for parents or grandparents to die. Think about it. That's evil. It's not hard to do. It's easy to get engrossed with what grandfather has left behind - that car, that lovely house, that wristwatch. It's easy to let that become too important in our lives. And when that happens our actions start saying something like: "Well thanks Grandpa for dying. I really wanted that car or that house or that watch more than having you here! How kind of you to pop off so that I can have it and wear it to school!" That's evil. It’s a way of thinking that God hates. He doesn't want us to think about the death of a parent or grandparent like that. He wants that way of thinking to die, and that is why He said: Honour your father and your mother! This law says more. It tells us that we are God's children. He wants us to know that He is our inheritance. It is because of what the Lord our God is going to give us that we should honour our parents! Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that it may go well with you, in the land which the Lord your God gives you (Deuteronomy 5:16).
Well does that not turns things around? Yes, children are to obey their parents, and when they grow up and become productive, they should even start providing for their parents. That's how we honour our parents as we grow older and change. It’s not a matter of bank-balance. It's not whether parents have been generous or tight-fisted. Jesus told His students that God our Father wants us to enjoy getting to know our olds. But the rules these religious guys thought up did not do that. They kept people selfish and jealous. And that got Jesus really upset. You say that if a son says what he should give to his parents can't be given because it’s earmarked for “God's special purpose” (Corban) then he is free from all obligations. You then allow him to do nothing else for his parents or in-laws. God's law not only tells us what is bad for us. It tells us what God delights in. Jesus came and helped us see that the Ten Commandments are God's wonderful help to us in everyday life. They are a treasure box, God's promises about living happily here and now.
With
mum and dad read through the Ten Commandments
and
discuss them as God’s promises to us.
The special exemption to the law about honouring parents, invented by these religious wise-guys, made Jesus upset. The details are hard to understand now because it was a different situation. But we see that these leaders thought they were doing the right thing and they were quite wrong. "Corban" was evil. The rule may have started out OK. Maybe it was first invented to stop parents bribing children and children bribing their parents, and to stop the mad scramble for inheritance. It sounds like "Corban" was like saying "Barley" in a game of tiggy, when you want to be safe for a minute or two. But Jesus tells us that we are never out of the game; we have an obligation to honour mum and dad for life. God has given them to us and so there's no “Barley”. God wants to enrich our lives, and honouring our olds is His way of preparing us for what lies ahead, what He is planning to give us later.
The "Corban" rule messed up lives because it came from messed-up lives. And this mess comes from forgetting that our heavenly Father loves being with us. He loves being with us despite the fact that we forget the lines of the poem, or get mixed up with the prayer, or get the times table wrong. Our Father in Heaven continues to give us gifts and abilities, so we can say words, compose poems, pray prayers and count numbers. He gives us a full and overflowing life. God even cleans up our lives. Memorising something or other can not do that. Mark tells us that the hypocritical religious leaders were so concerned about memorising the law that they had become tongue-tied; they had nothing more to say.
God's law helps us live happy lives. When we realise this there's nothing left but to thank Him for all His goodness.