DO WE NULLIFY THE WORD OF GOD?
“And He said to them: ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God to observe your own tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’…But you say that if a man says to his father and mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.’” Mark 7:9-13
If you want to, there’s always a way around God’s commands so that you will not be inconvenienced or that you will be able to do what you want. In this instance Jesus was saying that the Pharisees made disobedience look “holy” by giving to God what should have been used to take care of needy parents. I say “you” purposely because it is easy to dump guilt on other people and not look at ourselves and ask whether we are doing the same thing.
In what ways do we weasel out of doing God’s commands by redefining truth to suit ourselves? There is something very subtle about “religious” thinking that we must be careful about. Jesus makes it clear here that it is more important to take care of parents than to “give to God”. God sets as much store on looking after other people’s needs as He does on honouring and worshipping Him. To do the one and neglect the other is equally unacceptable to Him.
According to John in his first letter, the two are so closely intertwined that we cannot do the one without the other. We express our love and obedience to God by doing practical acts of caring like clothing and feeding the poor. From Jesus’ perspective, whatever we do for the least of people, we are doing for Him. Mother Teresa called the poorest of the poor, “Jesus in a disturbing disguise.”
How would we respond to people differently if we were aware that they were representatives of Jesus in disturbing disguise? How clearly do we see His face behind the person who draws out contempt in us?
It is important to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence in our everyday lives and in our changing circumstances so that we are not thrown off balance when unexpected things happen to us. We also need to focus on seeing His face in the faces of the people around us, especially in those with whom we can find no connection. This means that we deny ourselves and do something to help the other person even if we don’t feel any responsibility towards him or her.
Jesus explained how He would judge the nations when He comes in His glory; not by looking at our ‘religious’ activities but by the way we took care of, or did not take care of, needy people. They matter to Him. They must matter to us.