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Explanation for:
Matthew
15
:
6
And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition.
9
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{"arr":[{"author-name":"Ambrose of Milan","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c88871ceef8c96e0998cd0_Ambrose%20of%20Milan.png","category":"Holy Fathers and Teachers","century":4,"exegesis-text":"Honor your father and mother - Ex. 20:12, refer to the comprehensive explanation provided there. However, you claim that the offerings you could have given to your parents are instead given to the Church. God does not seek gifts made at the expense of a parent’s need. The Lord addressed the Jewish leaders who criticized His disciples for eating with unclean hands, saying, \\"Anyone who says, ‘A gift to God is what you would use from me’ has not honored father and mother\\" (Matt. 15:5-6). He questioned them: \\"Why do you assert to the father or mother, whom the law commands to honor, that ‘A gift to God is what you would use from me’?\\" (Matt. 15:5). This implies that when a needy father or mother seeks assistance from their child, it is a common practice among some Jews, wishing to excuse their reluctance to give – fearing the law – to declare, \\"Gift to God what you would use from me,\\" so that the devout parent may hesitate to take what is pledged to God. Yet, this behavior stems from individuals looking to justify their avarice, while the divine tradition asserts the importance of providing for one’s parents. If disobeying a parent, according to the divine command, incurs the penalty of death (Exodus 21:17), how much weightier is the suffering of a parent, a condition worse than death? The Lord admonishes against empty displays of piety. Many, in their pursuit of human approval, choose to give to the Church what they withhold from their family, while true charity must begin with one’s obligations at home. Prioritize supporting your parents, aid the poor, and also extend kindness to the priest from the earthly resources you possess in abundance, so you might receive from him the spiritual sustenance you lack, for he who honors will be honored. Understand that in receiving, he gives; he does not receive as one in need but with the intention of offering back with a greater abundance. Support the needy to alleviate their burdens, enabling you to find rest in your own giving. Scripture instructs to honor parents, but also to separate from them if they hinder the piety of a devout heart."},{"author-name":"Jerome of Stridon","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c88dcd3432c6dd41375498_Jerome%20of%20Stridon.png","category":"Holy Fathers and Teachers","century":4,"exegesis-text":"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees, aiming to corrupt God's most precise command, sought to introduce sinful practices under the guise of godliness. They instructed their misguided followers that if someone vowed to dedicate something to God, the Heavenly Father, they should prioritize that dedication over honoring their parents. Consequently, it is possible that the parents, witnessing what was pledged to God, suffered in poverty from the fear of being judged for sacred negligence. Simultaneously, those offerings, disguised as temple gifts, became a financial gain for the priests. This deeply flawed tradition of the Pharisees stemmed from a different motivation. Many individuals, having taken loans and refusing to repay their obligations, gave these borrowed funds to the priests under the pretext that the money owed would instead support the temple's work and their own needs. It might be that the expression, \\"The gift that is from me shall help you,\\" carries the following implication: you prompt children to inform their parents, \\"Father, mother, the offering I wish to present to God is what I will use to provide for you,\\" thus causing them to prefer enduring hardship rather than receiving what is designated for the Divine."},{"author-name":"Euthymios Zigabenos","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c96d263b8c22d9c467bdab_no-pic-theosis.png","category":"Christian Authors","century":11,"exegesis-text":"Let him disregard the honor due to his father or mother. A person like this, having lost all sense of shame, will ultimately fail to respect his parents. In doing so, you nullify God's commandment through your actions. By clearly demonstrating that they advocate for breaking the law, He also exonerated His disciples, who do not adhere to the traditions of those who themselves fail to follow God's commandments."},{"author-name":"Lopuchin A.P.","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c891400ee1341634d2276d_Lopuchin%20A.P..png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"The Saviour seized this moment to impart a crucial lesson to the misguided scribes, emphasizing the necessity of understanding the spirit of the law rather than adhering strictly to its letter, lest they find themselves in conflict with the very commandments they believed they upheld. In response to their admonition, He questioned them: ‘Why do you also violate the commandment of God because of your dishonesty? For God instructed, ‘Honour your father and mother;’ but you profess, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever you would benefit from me is dedicated to God,” he is exempt from honouring his father and mother.’ This means that when parents sought the respect and support they were due from their children, Pharisaic custom allowed for the superficial declaration at the temple of the portion of their wealth intended for parental care, freeing them from any responsibility to assist their parents directly. This form of deception was called out by Christ."},{"author-name":"Abbot Panteleimon about the Trinity","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c96d263b8c22d9c467bdab_no-pic-theosis.png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"He may not respect his father or mother; in this manner, you have set aside the everlasting commandment of God through your prediction. You engage in many other similar practices as well. The Pharisees aimed to demonstrate that His disciples were violating the Law; however, Christ reveals that they themselves were transgressing it, while the disciples were innocent. Human traditions do not equate to the Law; since the custom of washing hands did not contradict the Law, the Lord highlights another of their traditions that directly contradicted it: they instructed young men, under the guise of devotion, to disregard their fathers. For instance, if a father asked his son, \\"Give me this sheep,\\" they would respond, \\"What you wish to receive from me, I dedicate as a gift to God, and therefore you cannot accept it.\\" Thus, twofold wrongdoing occurred: they disrespected parents under the guise of obligation to God, and unjustly dishonored God under the notion of duty to their parents. The Lord does not condemn the act of dedicating offerings to God out of sincere devotion; He commended the widow who contributed her last two coins to the temple treasury. His teaching emphasizes that one must first obey the direct commandment of God and then offer gifts to Him. Yet, the Pharisees did not contemplate making sacrifices for the temple; they merely deceived their children into following their falsehood, teaching them how to evade and not obey God's command while easing their own consciences. They applied the same approach with lenders; a debtor might impress upon his creditor, \\"What I owe you is a korban,\\" meaning it was a gift consecrated to God. Consequently, the lender would hesitate to demand repayment. For such deceit, the Lord addressed them with utmost severity."},{"author-name":"Gladkow B.I.","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c88bf0ceef8c96e09a6521_Gladkow%20B.I..png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"The instruction given to you states: Honor your father and mother, and it prescribes death for anyone who reviles them. Yet, what do you do? You teach that it is acceptable to withhold assistance from your parents under the guise of dedicating to God what they require; and those who adhere to this practice, following your tradition, are freed from fulfilling this crucial commandment. The Pharisees led young men to scorn their fathers, all in the name of devotion. If a parent requested something from their child, whether a sheep, a calf, or any other possession, the response was, \\"What you wish to take from me is given as a gift to God, and you cannot receive it.\\" Consequently, twofold injustice arose: neither was an offering made to God, nor were the parents honored; instead, parents were insulted under the pretense of serving God, and God was also disrespected under the guise of honoring parents. \\n\\nThe Lord's words relayed by the Evangelist Matthew align closely with the account provided by Mark, albeit with slight variations. For Moses stated, “Honor your father and your mother,” and “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother, let him die a death” (Mk. 7:10). The command to honor parents is the fifth commandment issued by God at Sinai through Moses, while the declaration regarding speaking against one’s parents is a punitive measure laid down by Moses as well. The Evangelist Mark succinctly presents both sets of divine instruction connected to Moses. Furthermore, he concurs with Matthew's narration regarding the Lord’s admonition against nullifying God’s command for the sake of tradition.\\n\\nWe are led to question which commandment was dismissed by the scribes and Pharisees; undoubtedly, it was God’s, as the Lord clearly affirms. Since the command to honor parents is indeed part of God’s law, and it alone was disregarded by the Pharisees (while the Mosaic Law concerning the death penalty for speaking against parents remained intact), it follows that the Lord’s words can be interpreted as follows: God commands, “Honor your father and mother,” while Moses states, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother shall die a death.” Such an interpretation harmonizes the accounts provided by both Evangelists. Furthermore, those who advocate for capital punishment cannot find justification to do so by misconstruing the Lord’s approval.\\n\\nIn commanding us to love our neighbors, even our adversaries and foes, and assigning us the duty to rescue sinners, lost sheep, and wayward children through fostering their repentance, Christ would not endorse capital punishment. Such a consequence does not pave the way for a sinner’s redemption nor reintegrate them into the fold of Christ; rather, it serves as a barrier, obstructing their return to that community."},{"author-name":"Paul Matwejewski","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c8969f5be0d592d5a10576_Paul%20Matwejewski.png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"It is clear that regularly cleansing the body and items used in daily life to foster hygiene and order has its merits. Had the legal experts of Jerusalem adhered to this basic principle of purification, they would not have faced condemnation. However, by attributing to a necessary practice the weight of a divine command and reinforcing this with an array of trivial regulations, they elevated their own traditions to a status equivalent to, or even surpassing, the fundamental commandments from God. The Lord addressed this inconsistency in His response, saying, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your traditions? God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death.” In contrast, you assert, “If anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Corban, a gift to God’—that is, what you would have received from me—he is not to honor his father or mother.” This way, you allow him to evade any responsibility toward his parents. The Lord directed them to the fifth commandment from the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12) and the relevant legal statutes (Exodus 21:16) as illustrations. Among the Jewish custom was the practice of dedicating voluntary offerings from personal wealth to God, with such vows being obligatory (Deut. 23:21-23). According to St. John Chrysostom, the Pharisees corrupted the youth under the guise of religion, teaching them to disregard their fathers. If a parent requested, “Give me this sheep, or a bullock, or anything else you have,” the sons would reply, “That which you would have from me is dedicated as a gift to God, and thus cannot be given to you.” This resulted in a dual wrongdoing: they neither truly offered to God, nor did they honor their parents, while pretending piety. Thus, parents were deprived of their due gifts under the guise of offering to God, with dishonor directed toward them while claiming duty to God, and similarly, disrespect was shown to God in the name of honoring parents."},{"author-name":"Bogolepow D.P.","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c96d263b8c22d9c467bdab_no-pic-theosis.png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"The extraordinary event of feeding the multitude occurred just prior to the Passover. Following this, Jesus traveled through Galilee, choosing not to enter Judea due to the threat on His life from the Jews (John 7:1). This timeframe comes after the third Passover, when one day, the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem approached Jesus. They likely arrived in Galilee only after the conclusion of the days of unleavened bread. Anticipating His presence at the festival in Jerusalem, they were disappointed to find Him absent, so they sought Him out in Galilee where they eventually located Him.\\n\\nIn their dialogue, the Evangelists accurately convey Christ's exchanges with the Pharisees concerning the traditions of the elders. Mark, targeting a Roman audience unfamiliar with Jewish practices, provides clarifications, such as the significance of eating with unclean hands and details about the Pharisaic rituals of purification. Matthew, on the other hand, includes a specific account of the Lord's response regarding the Pharisees' offense taken at His remarks about the elders’ betrayal, before inviting the disciples to interpret the parable. Both the response and the explanation of the parable, as recorded by Mark, occur privately among the disciples.\\n\\nThe differences among the Evangelists are mainly in the arrangement of Christ's statements made to the Pharisees. In response to their criticism of His disciples for neglecting the washing of hands before meals, Jesus asserts that the traditions of the elders often serve as human constructs, devised to evade the commandments of God. For instance, the law instructs to honor one's father and mother, carrying grave consequences for disobedience (Ex. 20:12; Ex. 21:17). However, the Pharisees maintained that declaring a gift to God (korban) exempted one from the obligation to support their parents (Matt. 3-6). Furthermore, in emphasizing God's commandments over human traditions, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words about His contemporaries becomes evident (Isaiah 29:13 in the LXX; Matt. 7-8). In Mark's account, these two concepts are presented in reversed order (9-13; 6-8)."},{"author-name":"Alexander Gorsky","author-image":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6864003fdf3714da6ff0b33a/68c8884037c1e1c51e1332e2_Alexander%20Gorsky.png","category":"Christian Authors","century":19,"exegesis-text":"A query was raised before the crowd. The Lord, setting aside the specific case, began to address the significance of traditions, declaring, \\"Among your traditions, there are some that conflict with the law of God.\\" He then highlighted the elders' regulation regarding the Korban, which allowed the Jews, under the guise of religious devotion, to violate the foremost of the Ten Commandments concerning their neighbors, specifically the command to honor one’s father. By exposing this inconsistency with the law, the Lord concluded His response with a broad observation about the essence of Pharisaical devotion, referencing the words of the prophet Isaiah about those who honor God only with their words while their hearts remain far from Him."}]}
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