October 19 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Mark 7:1-13

¹Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
²And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
³For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
⁴And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
⁵Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
⁶He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
⁷Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
⁸For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
⁹And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
¹⁰For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
¹¹But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
¹²And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
¹³Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Devotional:

The Scribes and Pharisees were zealous to keep the laws of the Old Testament, but their zeal extended also to the manufacture of other laws, 'the traditions of the elders,' which had been heaped up in addition and which they were most scrupulous in obeying. Jesus had to admonish them for this sin of heaping up laws and placing them as a burden on the people. Our reading illustrates this. Specifically here He warns them against the gift that was corban. Just what did that mean?

In the Ten Commandments God had said that men should 'honor their father and mother' (Exodus 20:12). He who did not, but rather cursed his parents, would be guilty and deserving of death. When this responsibility to honor and care for needy and elderly parents became irksome, men devised ways (quite pious ways!) of circumventing God's command. They gave, or probably sometimes only pretended that they gave, a gift to God and said, 'This is corban' ('brought near,' that is to say, given to God). The gift would pass into the hands of the scribes and Pharisees for their use, and the needy parents would gain nothing by it. Thus was God's law set aside and God's name dishonored.

God did not want such a gift. Rather, He would have the son honor his parents, as the law required. Jesus found it necessary to condemn corban as a pure circumvention of the divine will.

We are told elsewhere that normally it is the parent who should lay up for the child, but we are also told to take care of our own. Special instructions are given for the care of widows in our families. When aged parents are in need, God surely requires us to care for them as best we can.

This is not to be construed simply in monetary ways. The aged parent is cheered not only by gifts but by the knowledge that someone cares. We should seek grace from the Lord to recognize the needs of older people and to respond to them. In our day the Social Security program has come to be depended upon as a mainstay for aging people. God has his own program for social security built into His kingdom. Are we concerned to see that it functions to His glory?