Scripture Daily

Context No. 1220 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 7:6-13: in context

6He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8“For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.” 9He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban,”’” that is to say, given to God, 12“then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, 13making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”

Jesus answers the Pharisees who criticized his disciples for unwashed hands by quoting Isaiah: this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God, he says, and hold to human tradition. Then he gives a devastating example: God commanded, honor your father and mother, but you let a man declare his money Corban, dedicated to God, and then use that as a reason not to support his aging parents, so that by your tradition you nullify the very word of God.

The Corban example is a case study in how religion can be used to dodge God's actual commands. A man could take money that should have supported his elderly parents, declare it Corban, dedicated to the temple, and thereby claim he was released from the duty to help them, all while looking piously generous to God. Jesus sees straight through it: you have used a religious-sounding vow to escape the plain command to honor your father and mother, and in doing so you have made void the word of God. It is a chilling possibility, that religion itself can become the tool for avoiding what God really requires, that a person can hide behind a spiritual-sounding technicality to shirk a concrete duty of love. God said care for your parents; the tradition provided a loophole to keep the money. The lips honored God while the heart, and the wallet, went the other way. It is worth examining whether we ever do the same, using some religious justification to avoid a plain command, especially the concrete, costly commands about caring for people. The test Jesus applies is whether our traditions and devotions serve God's word or are used to get around it.

Do I ever use a religious-sounding reason to dodge a plain command of God, especially a costly duty of love toward the people God has put in my care, honoring him with my lips while getting around his word?

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