Listen! Speak Up! - Mark 7:24-37

 

Mark 7:24-37 NIV

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Listen! Speak Up!

In this passage of Scripture, we find evidence that Jesus mission is for ALL the lost and neglected, no matter what race or religion. Jesus travels outside of Jewish territory and is in Gentile land with the Gentiles. According to Jewish thinking this land is “unclean” territory. And it is in this land that Jesus comes in contact with a Gentile woman with a lively, passionate faith and belief in what healing powers that Jesus has.

You see, Jesus has always been a living personality and force, even to this day. Nothing can permanently hide Jesus from our eyes, ears or minds.

Yes, this Jesus was destined, yet forbidden, to die by men’s powers. Yes, Jesus was condemned by mankind, but to die? Well yes… yet No. At least not a death that would last. Jesus rose from the dead to live into eternity.

So, in this unclean land of the Gentiles, Jesus meets a woman. A lively passionate faithful woman. Yes, a Gentile, and yes unclean by Jewish standards, and yet yes even more a woman who places her faith in Jesus. And even at what some may think of as a rebuke from Jesus, this woman is persistent in her faith. For this woman, who some think may be named Justa, her daughter, likewise thought to be named Bernice is possessed by a demon. And Justa begs Jesus to drive the demon from Bernice. This is life or death stuff, and Justa has faith in Jesus.

And now we see faith once again present with the miracles of Jesus. God wants to save as many of his people as possible.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this loving desire of God to save is driven home.

Ephesians 2:11-18 NIV

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

And Justa, the Gentile woman, exclaims to Jesus, “Sir,” or as recorded in this passage Lord. This is the same word we use in the church as Kyrie. Some of you may recognize Kyrie Eliason… Lord have mercy! Just in this proclamation of this Gentile woman, we witness faith. And remember from a few past sessions of “Pointing to Jesus,” we discovered how faith is present with miracles. And in this miracle of Jesus, the woman’s daughter is even healed from a distance. The daughter isn’t even present in the same location. And the woman returns home and her daughter is rid of the demon.

This miracle account of Jesus is followed up by another miracle.

After Jesus travels a bit, a deaf man with a speech impediment is brought to Jesus for healing. Here, in this place, Jesus wanted to avoid publicity, because earlier, in this region, the people tried to make Him king. But this wasn’t the type of kingship Jesus came into this world to become. No, Jesus would be our King, but not just, a worldly king alone.

Witness this passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, years before Jesus walked this earth and met this man.

Isaiah 35:5-6 NIV

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.

This is a promise into the future, as now we see Jesus, and this miracle of healing and faith.

And in this miracle of Jesus, we witness contact.

The saliva of Jesus is used here. Saliva was thought to have a healing power. But it is also the saliva of Jesus the causes the man to co-operate in faith with what Jesus is doing. Jesus looks to heaven and groans. Perhaps this groan from Jesus was showing His deep emotion and compassion for this deaf man with a speech impediment.

And with this sigh, Jesus uses a funny word for us today, Ephphatha. This word means to be opened.

Now think about it. If our ears are opened to the Word of God, or even to Jesus, the Word made flesh; how can we help but to loosen our tongues in praise and testimony?

This is exactly what happens to the man with Jesus, He can now hear and he will now proclaim Jesus.  Yes, this man, now has his own Jesus encounter testimony that he wants to tell to all the world.

Once again, in just a few verses, Jesus in Gentile territory, heals in a miraculous way, the deaf and mute man.

Now, to make this all a little personal. Have my ears, or your ears, or the ears of this world been opened to Jesus lifegiving, forgiveness and salvation?

Have we, as disciples of Jesus a new speech? Do we witness to a new spiritual life in Jesus? I’ll come back to these questions in a moment.

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus combined Himself, His own Faith, in His doing the will of God, with His earthly spittle along with His command to be opened to bring healing for this one man.

What more has God done for all of us and God combines an earthly element, like spittle with a command. Perhaps like with water and God’s command, or even bread and wine with God’s command. Does this sound familiar to the disciples of this world?

You see, as we learn from Luther, Baptism is not merely water. No, it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s Word. What Word is this? It is the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in,

Matthew 28:19 NIV

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

And what gifts and benefits does Baptism bring? It brings forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.

Mark 16:16 NIV

 

¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

You see, it’s not the water, or the spittle, or the bread or the wine, that does these great things, rather it is the Word of God connected with the earthly element and our faith that relies on the Word. For without the Word of God, we only have spittle, water, bread or wine.

 

It’s sort of the same with Communion. We take the bread and the wine, the earthly elements, and along with the Words of Jesus we receive not only bread and wine but the body and blood of Jesus, in with and under the bread and the wine.  Where do we find this command?

 

Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul, all say…

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

 

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

 

So, there you have it. A couple more examples of God’s command and earthly elements, combined with faith and given as healing gifts to not only one man, or one daughter, but to all the world.

 

In the account of the deaf man, Jesus tells the people to hush it up. But how can they help themselves but to go out into their own worlds and shout out about what they have just witnessed.

 

Today, do disciples have an impediment to speech?

 

Sometimes I wonder. As I see on social media sites, so many people that only want you to copy, paste and post stuff with an “Amen” attached; I have to really wonder if this attention is to focus on the disciple or to Point to Jesus.

 

Stop all that stuff! Say it in your own words! Don’t go about professing Jesus with memes! Come on!

 

It seems to me when disciples do this, they are being cautious, perhaps prudent and or even worse, just plain cowardly.

 

Speak of Christ in your life yourself, with your own words, in your own situations. Speak and testify to all your neighbors and friends what healing Jesus has brought to you. Use your own mouth, your own ears and your own tongue, and your own fingers on the keys, BOLDLY! Go beyond copy, paste and Amen. I mean really? Do you really want to Point to Jesus, or are you trying to look good to your neighbor?

 

God wants our voice speaking, our fingers typing, so that His Word will spread to all those God gives to you each and every day… today… tomorrow… and forever.

 

Point to Jesus, yourself!

 

Lord, correct my faults when I chicken out. As I place my trust in you for everything, created in me the faith that will produce the works of love for all my neighbors, that they may see you and your healing power of salvation for all the world.

 

I invite you to enjoy this YouTube Music Video that accompanies this reflection…

Speak O Lord

Open Eyes of Heart - Mark 7:14-23

 

Mark 7:14-23 NIV

¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ^[16] 

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Open Eyes of Heart

Purity of heart. I hear in Jesus’ message of this passage of Scripture.

Hosea 6:6 NIV

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Amos 5:23 NIV

²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Micah 6:6-8 NIV

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 58:1-14 NIV

58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

What are we doing? Do we do what we do, just to be seen by others? Do we do what we do to earn God’s favor? Do we do what we do to look good in the eyes of God? Do we do what we do out of selfish pride? What are we doing?

But wait a minute! You may say, these good works come from within. These good works come from deep in my heart. Maybe so, but why do you do the good works that you do?

Do you do your good works to be seen by others for people to see you? Do you do your good works to earn God’s favor? Do you do your good works for God to see you doing good works? Sounds just like the first set of questions.

Sometimes, what comes from within, is really some false notion of ours that came in from without. OK… now I’m talking in circles.

Some of these things that we do that we learn from without, really just lead us to satisfy our own pride. We know that doing good for another is good. Makes sense. But when we do good to make ourselves look good… well… that stuff may have been better just going on through us and out the sewer. The kind of doing good for another for the purpose of making yourself look good, doesn’t seen to fit the form of the message in this passage of Scripture from Jesus.

This type of doing good, is not impurity of hands. No, what you did was good for neighbor, but this type of pride in doing good, comes from impurity of heart.

Sin begins in our thought.

Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

But you say, I wasn’t doing any of this! Well, no, for the most part, it’s easy to pick up on these acts of the flesh. Sure, that stuff looks all bad. So, what are you getting at?

 

We are foolish when we think of sin as a joke. Well, that stuff above is no joke? That’s easy to see.

 

Romans 14:14 NIV

¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

 

What? You’re making understanding all of this worse!

 

What defiles us is an evil heart. This influence that comes from the outside and enters into our heart giving us pride for our own righteousness and our own works, is a poison that ruins life. This prideful evil is foolishness. And out of this evil heart flows:

Slander --- which is a form of murder

Pride --- maybe the deadliest of all sins AND it prevents penitence

Foolishness

Theft

Murder

Adultery

 

 

 

Moral cleanliness is more important than ceremonial cleanliness.

 

And now we’re back to this Open Eyes of Heart thing.

 

It is the Open Eyes of Heart that matters. Nothing outside can either defile or purify me.

 

So, what is a Pure Heart?

 

Look to the Beatitudes… Matthew 5:2-11… I’ll let you look that up yourself. Anyway, a pure heart is described as a meek spirit, a penitent mind and peace making.

 

The stuff that comes from your heart, that goes outside of yourself, not for your own benefit, but rather as a response to what God has already done, for and in and now through you is what is of God.

 

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

So what?

Well, look at what comes from the outside. Jesus came to us from heaven. From outside. But what did he do from our outside? He took on our inside. Huh? Yea, he took on all of the impurity that came from our insides and brought it upon himself. He took all of our sin to die on the cross… on His outside.

Why? So that we could now live in Him and He in us. Jesus made the Open Eyes of our Heart his very own, so that we could live forever with Him in His Kingdom in the righteousness of our new heart… his heart… now our heart.

Well, that’s a bunch of gobble Dee gook!

So, now what comes out of our heart, is not pride for self. Rather what now comes out of our heart, the works of our heart, are the response to what God has given us through Jesus.

 

And that’s how it seems God has been using all of us messed up humans throughout creation.

 

Sometimes, I enter a passage of Scripture, the Words of Jesus and come out more confused than when I started. But that’s OK with me. Sometimes Jesus makes me stop, think, take in His Word, maybe not to understand it all, but rather to have His Word become a part of me, a part of my heart, maybe even to Open the Eyes of my Heart. It’s not always an easy understanding, at least for me, I admit. As I watch myself and remember what God has shown me, I see God’s Word gives Light and see how the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.

 

May God lead and guide the Open Eyes of Heart, in my actions to love God and love all those God gives to me… today… tomorrow… and forever.

 

Enjoy this YouTube music that brought meaning to this reflection…

Open The Eyes of My Heart

Dirt Under Your Fingernails - Mark 7:1-13 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

 

Mark 7:1-13 NIV

7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ² and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

⁹ And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— ¹² then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ¹³ Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

Dirt Under Your Fingernails

I worked in Maintenance, in one form or another all my life. I worked, Police and Business Radio Rephase, labor, Steel Mill Maintenance, HVAC, Maintenance Supervision, Maintenance Engineering, Contractor Supervision, Predictive and Preventive Maintenance Procedures along with Work Order Systems, and Maintenance Management. All just maintenance stuff. Dirty fingernail and dirty hand stuff. And yes, some Maintenance that required some squeaky-clean hands and uniforms. If you work in maintenance, you can expect to get dirty hands. Did I always wash these hands clean before eating? Well, I was supposed to, but often didn’t.

Wait a minute! I’m pointing to me! So, now, may I redirect your gaze to Jesus. Permit me to Point to Jesus.

The passage of scripture for this week sounds like an issue of dirty hands and dirty dishes; but it’s not all about that at all.

Man’s problems in this world and our problems in life aren’t dirty hands, so to speak. Most of my problems and the problems of this world come from a polluted heart.

This passage of Scripture has three groups of people in mind.

First there are the hostile critics of Jesus. These people are the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Scribes are Orthodox Religious Authorities of the Jewish Religion of Jesus day.

The Pharisees are zealous lay followers of the Scribes.

The Second Group, sort of implied in this passage of Scripture, are the onlooking people of the day.

Finally, the Third Group are Jesus’ disciples.

The major issue at hand here, is the tradition of the elders surrounding the washing of hands before eating food.

Here we need to see that there are commandments of God, which point out are sin and move repentance into our life, and observances or traditions, created by men, put in place to aid our relationship with God.

But what we tend to do as sinners ourselves, along with the Scribes and Pharisees of this passage is to take on religious acts that are void of God given faith. In other words, we make the things we do more important that what our faith in God would lead us to do, in love for God and in love for neighbor.

Here in this passage, we need to understand that this washing of hands was not for some sanitary reason. Rather, the washing of hands was a religious ceremony that was invented by the Scribes.

So, what, you may wonder.

When we fall into the trap of giving ceremony, procedure, even signs, we tend to stop looking at Jesus and look to ourself. I mean, stop looking at yourself and the things you think you need to do to earn God’s or Jesus’ approval, when you can look straight at Jesus for his approval.

Don’t miss the big stuff while staring at the little stuff of your own way. Stop it! Jesus is present here!

Look at Jesus miracles, gifts, life, ministry, teaching, healings and loving salvation for all the world. Why look at your own dirty fingernails, the blood-stained hands, the dirty dishes, when you can see Jesus in your presence?

The Scribes, the Pharisees, the crowd of people, the disciples, and yes, even you and I are guilty of looking inward to our own works and deeds, rather than looking and listening to Jesus. Jesus IS here!

If we create rules and regulations for ourselves and others, are we to exclude people? Or are we to be open to the people God has given to us each day, to include them in our life and the life of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Don’t approach things in life, yes, don’t even approach Jesus, with your mind made up. Look at, and to, Jesus with open eyes, open ears and an open heart. Jesus IS here! Don’t let yourself get in the way of Jesus presence in your life.

So, back to this washing of hands. All the Jews did not wash hands as a ritual. Not all of them. This was a ceremony a ritual that not all Jews abided by, it was a made-up ritual of the Scribes. Sure, it was a good idea, but it didn’t really bring you any closer to God or God any closer to you.

Washing hands is not a substitute for God given faith. I think that maybe the ritual was meant to bring us closer to God, but did it really?

Psalm 29:2 NIV

² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

The point is not myself and the things I do. The point is God and what God does.

Don’t get lost in your own made-up ceremonies that may cause you to miss seeing God in Jesus, right there in your face.

You can do a bunch of really nice things. You can read your Bible every day, you can give to Church, you can clothe the naked, visit the sick, feed the hungry, see the elderly. You can do all sorts of really nice things, but if you do these things thinking that they will draw you closer to God… Forget all that! You have just polluted your heart with your own good works thinking that God should now show you favor. God doesn’t owe you one thing!

I say I’m acting out of love for neighbor, but I’m really acting out of love for myself, thinking God will give me my due pay and my due stamp of approval. I say love, love, love, yet I do it all out of love for my own skin in the face of God.  I’m a hypocrite!

A hypocrite that honors God with lip and speech and action that the end result is for my own benefit. I seek MY Kingdom first. Yes! When I act this way, I’m guilty! Think about this for your own life as well. What’s your motivation behind your own good works. Really think about it. Is it more about you?

Isaiah 29:13 NIV

¹³ The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

Are my actions for my own skin in the presence of God, or a result of what God has done for me?

If I support the Temple, can I ignore everything else? If I give to the Church, can I ignore the needs of parents, neighbors or those God gives to me? Surely what I have given goes towards those good people as well. I mean, after all, the Church gets to pick and choose the people that they wish to give to. Maybe if we give good things to people in need, they will increase our numbers at church and give even more money so that we can pick and choose even more people to give money towards what the church feels is needed.

Maybe if my church looks good in my community, we can grow and bring more and more honor and prestige to our congregation. Maybe we can be the number one church in our community!

What? What matters most?

And… Jesus speaks of Corban. Well, what’s that!

Corban is money dedicated under oath to God. Corban is money paid now or even promised after death. It was a way to avoid helping parents in need, in this case, because the son had already given or pledged the money to God.

Corban is a religious practice where children, mainly the son, could offer money to the Temple that would free them from using the money to care for their parents. It’s sort of like saying, well, I gave my money to the church, so I don’t have any money to help my old mom or dad. I mean, really, mom, that money went to a good cause after all. So, God let’s me off the hook for caring for mom or dad.

Like I said above, I’m off the hook of caring cause I gave to the church.

Does this void your commitment to mom or dad? Does this allow you to turn away from that homeless person right in your face on the side of the road? Does this give you a free pass to turn down the hungry or clothe the naked, or visit this sick, or see someone in prison, or to help the addicted?

Where is your heart of love, if you turn from mom or dad or neighbor in need?

Have I let myself be more concerned with religious rules, that I fail to love another?

Where is kindliness, mercy, tolerance, love and concern for people?

What takes priority?

Does my rites or God or neighbor take priority?

Are my little procedures, and rites my excuse to avoid loving God and neighbor?

NO!

Religion should mix in and through my life in this place and in this time and into eternity.

Religion and my practices are not a substitute for love of God and neighbor.

God’s WORD, this Jesus in the flesh, right in my face, takes priority.

External religious action is empty if they lack faith and love that God freely gives to each and every one of us as we come to believe in God our Creator, Savior, and Spirit.

Yes! Meet Jesus. Follow Jesus and yes… Point to Jesus with eyes wide open for Jesus is ALL… today… tomorrow… and forever.

Lord, you turn things upside down and give your children hope. May we seek you and love you and respond in love for you to work to establish justice in this world in which you have place us. For You have delivered us. Lead us to respect and love one another in all we do, each day.

May this YouTube music bring you joy…

Hands of Jesus