In Mark chapter 7, it talks about the clash between Jesus and the religiously pure of the time: The Pharisees. Now I’m not knocking the Pharisees they represented the most zealous of God’s people. As Paul put it, he was a Pharisee among Pharisees. They were disciplined and very focused on their service to God but there in lies their deepest flaw. A lack of compassion and blinded by the outer workings of the law. You might say they were nit-picky. As Jesus would put it straining out a gnat and swallowing a Camel. To the Lord their priorities and focus were so out of whack that he marveled at their blindness.
The Corban
As this chapter in Mark unfolds, they accuse Jesus’ disciples at not washing their hands before they had eaten anything. Jesus jumps on this assertion with both feet basically accusing then as ‘rejecting the commandment of God, that they might keep their own tradition’ , Then Jesus gives them a living example fo their missing the mark with their teaching on Corban. Basically Jesus says this:
‘ Instead of honoring your Father and Mother, you set aside what your wealth is for God by dedicating that to God rather than helping your one Father and Mother….’
So let’s modernize that statement a little. What were they doing that was so wrong? After all they were giving to God, dedicating to God their wealth and zealously protecting that which they gave to God. Wealth could be labeled a lot of things here: it could be money, time, effort, attention, focus, etc. In other words, it was a consideration they made to favor or prioritize their most precious value to God. But here Jesus has them figured out. They had used their religious traditions and beliefs to withhold wealth from their parents who were in dire need to their help. They felt justified but Jesus condemned them for it. Why? Because of a lack of love which focuses on compassion and empathy and going the extra Mile even when it was hard to do so.
How do We answer such a charge?
So how do we respond? I can think of a personal example. When I was in the dysfunctional religious group I was in , I held a lot of Corban. I withheld my self and my family from My in-laws to a point it was palpable. Oh, I tolerated them but they knew full well they did not have my heart…and it killed them. I withheld the most precious thing from them by dedicating myself to God, I and my family and shut out my in-laws because they did not hold to faith as I had done. Little did I realize at the time that what I thought was the the way were only traditions and not the teachings of Christ. I was on the outside a very holy man but on the the inside I was cold as ice towards them. Every time we met there was a chill that separated my family from them….at a time they needed it most. No other time was that clearer to me than when my Father-in-law broke mentally from reality because of the strain of this estranged relationship …that was in essence no relationship at all. I clearly remember him in his unbalanced state looking at me with such contempt and a physical sign he had made with his hand and finger of this disgust. I laughed it off at the time but looking back I chill at what I had become…a Pharisee withholding my love and the love of my family from the two of them as Corban. It is one of the greatest regrets of my life…I can still see his face and all I have is an apology to offer. Nothing can make up for the time lost to Corban, it is Satanic and evil what was done….no wonder Jesus cut no slack to them who had held the Corban from their parents. The ones who loved and supported them though thick and thin. Those who anguished over their hurts and they will never know the night that there was heartbroken prayers whispered in the dark for them. All at the cost of traditions of men in the ‘washings’ called divine precepts. What a waste of un- replaceable time.
Isn’t it Ironic?
If there is a God in heaven, I know He is not pleased with the misuse of traditions seated in the place of His teachings and therefore His desire. My family has Corban, it is replete with it. It separates it divides it destroys, it wishes the demise of its focus it is Horrid and wreaks of the pit from which I came. It is not the nature of God to divide and destroy but to unify and restore. After all Ezekiel 36:26 is a good view a the heart of God. The group I was a part of has rejected its titular head, the Apostle and now is driving headlong trying to find an identity. Something to re-position themselves as still good and zealous for God. It is merely the death throes of what history teaches of houses built on sand. It is a teaching I remember from years of teaching the precepts of the dysfunctional religious group. The lesson in the introduction made a reference of a house built on sand and the winds blew and floods came and great was the fall of that house. As my children look at the house can they honestly say that the house is built on a solid rock? Question: If they reject the Apostle for his alleged indiscretions, then why do they still hold to the teaching materials produced by them? Sounds suspect to me and a clear indication hat they have no idea who they are in Faith anymore. A rudderless ship soon runs aground .Given the reality of the situation, they cannot. So why do they still hold to their Corban it is unknown to me and it is one regret that they will have that they didn’t reconcile with the second commandment and remove the Corban. I pray this every day: ‘lord it is with a full heart, I mount the plain of Faith and look on the Horizon for their return…because you spoke it ‘I am not done’.. So I sit here on the plain looking on the horizon that I might kill the fatted calf and put a ring on my son’s and daughter’s finger and say ‘Welcome home…’
