Mark 6-7 When Traditions lose their way

October 17th, Mark 6-7

       Traditions help set values and when done well, cause us to remember great things we might otherwise forget. Traditions get misapplied values that lift something worthless to a place of high regard and forget what was supposed to be.
       Jesus is accused of violating hand washing rules. Jesus is troubled about how the script has been flipped and says..."Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."  Then Jesus goes on to explain the problem...
       The Command of God:"Honor your Father and your Mother, so your days may be long upon the earth."
       The Traditions of Men: Corban Taking care of your Father and Mother until their death(no Social Security/Medicare) requires a certain amount of finances. Corban is a financial gift given to the Temple that would be equivalent to the cost of taking care of your parents. After the gift of Corban, you are now under no obligation to care for your parents. You neglect the commandment of God and hold to the traditions of men.
       It starts something like this, a family has parents die young. They feel compelled to give a gift to the Temple since the anticipated costs are no longer needed. A family is rich, and to be honest, can cover both costs of a large sum to the Temple and taking care of their parents. The problem is...it morphs into the Temple enjoying large treasuries. It morphs into people wanting to brag about their large gift, and then in the end not take care of the command of God to honor parents. This problem becomes so normal, it's totally out of whack. (kinda like saying a higher debt ceiling is better for us financially, it's hard to believe it even comes off your lips when you say it).
       So we have to be careful of norms we have that violate God's command. Jesus calls it... "Invalidating the word of God by your tradition." The question is, how have our traditions allowed a secondary thing to become primary...

Safety before faith, money before mission, knowing without doing, church excluding world...