In the news
last year was the fact that in China ,
caring for your parents became an obligation, a law. Strange how I thought they were far advanced
than us on that matter for here it seems like few care for their own parents-
we pay others to do it while others get ignored. In fact, I noticed this winter how few older
people get their driveways shoveled by the neighbours. It used to be we all cared better for the
elderly.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that your
days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you. Ex. 20:12
And he that curses his father or his mother shall
surely be put to death. Ex. 21:17
honour- kabad- negatively heavy,
burdensome, positively honourable, promote. Bascally here meaning honour and
value.
honour- revere, respect, treat
with deference and submission, perform relative duties to.
value- rate at a high price, have
in high esteem, hold in respect and estimation (importance),
take account of
(Webster 1828)
curses- qalal- make light of, of little
account, despise, lightly esteem, make
insignificant, treat with contempt/ dishonour.
I find it interesting that we (in North
America ) more often consider caring for parents negatively or burdensome. True, some parents need major help physically
or are struggling with mental diseases, but often we think mostly to our own
inconvenience. We don’t have the time
for them. In our already heavily
scheduled lives, are we really to give up any downtime or relaxation time for
our parents when we get little enough of it ourselves? This commandment says yes.
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and scribes
tried to squirm their way (and taught others as well) out of taking care of
their parents by attributing godliness to their actions. Isn’t it amazing how they tried to use God to
justify their actions? Not much has
changed… we still find good, logical reasons to not honour this command.
For Moses said, "Honor your father and your
mother." And, "Whoever curses father or mother, let him die the
death." But you say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban!
(that is, A gift to God, whatever you
may profit by me) and you no longer allow him to do anything toward his father or mother, making the Word of God of
no effect through your tradition which you have delivered. And you do many such
things. Mr. 7:10-13
Apparently,
if you claimed your land, money, etc was a ‘gift to God’ than you could ignore
your parents’ financial needs. This man
written tradition made God’s Word of no effect.
How often do we make God’s Word (of honouring parents, loving, being
kind, etc) of no effect by our own justifications? “But they’ve been nasty to me, I don’t have
the time, I’m too tired, I promised to serve in my church, I have to work
overtime (to feed my desires not needs), they drive me crazy, my kids are my
priority …”
And how about
how we treat them even if they can take care of themselves? Even if our words to them sound respectful,
what’s going on in our heads? I know for
a fact the mind can be ‘cursing’ while the words are reasonable, because my Mom
drives me nuts sometimes and my head is not in a loving place. Also, forgetting to call them or visit is
also neglectful as I was gently reminded by my ever so sweet Mom-in-law who
said she missed us. Big oops! Now I schedule phone calls, and should start
scheduling visits. This command’s not easy
due to time constraints, but necessary.
Keeping this one should be easy, but it's not.
Commandment
# 5 –broken often L