Signs of the Times: Mom & Dad, Forever Meaningful to Me!
“Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the tradition of the ancients? For they do not wash their hands when they take food.”
Aw, gotcha Mom and Dad! I didn’t have to wash my hands before eating!
When I focus on the superfluous, I miss the main point.
Jesus’ response was not about washing our hands before eating, it was about honoring our mothers and fathers for what they gave us.
And no matter how terrible, evil or abusive any parent can be at times or continuously through our childhood, they did give us the gift of life. And no matter how difficult the relationship of our parents was, except in extreme cases, our conception came from a spark of love, a speck of the light in the souls of our parents. Yes, we have hurts, hang ups and habits acquired in dysfunctional childhoods but if we did not have choices back then we certainly do have choices today. Life does indeed go on if you are living in the present moment looking forward to the future and ultimately life beyond our worldly existence.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is they that defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts… These are the things that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
The new law versus the old law.
The new me versus the old me.
“When it is evening you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning you say, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and lowering.’ You know how to read the face of the sky, but cannot read the signs of the times.
In retrospect my Mom and Dad weren’t old- fashion at all. They were a bit ahead of their time. Their faith in God, their ability to persevere and endure life’s trials and tribulations and their simple and powerful view of life and love was a beautiful thing to witness.
TROML Baby!
Day 16: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Signs of the Times: Mom & Dad, Forever Meaningful to Me!
Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint Matthew Chapters 15-16.
Bible Notes:
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
Saint Matthew, also known as Levi, was a Galilean by birth.
Tax Collector at Capharnaum
Christ called him to become a disciple, and later an Apostle
After the Holy Ghost came down on the Apostles on Pentecost, Matthew preached the Gospel in Judea.
He wrote his Gospel to prove to his readers that Christ was the Messiah foretold by God in the Old Testament
Matthew Chapter 15: Christ refutes the Scribes and Pharisees; Disciples warned to shun the Pharisees; Christ explains what defiles a man; The Canaanite woman; Jesus heals the suffering; Jesus has compassion on the crowd; Jesus feeds four thousand.
“Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of of the ancients? For they do not wash their hands when they take food.”
“And why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?”
For God said, “Honor thy father and mother”; and “let him who curses father or mother be put to death.
But you say. ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Any support thou mightiest have had from me is dedicated to God,” does not have to honor to honor his father or mother.’
So you have made void the commitment of God by your tradition.
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; and in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of man.”
Refutes—to prove to be false or erroneous, as an opinion or charge; to prove (a person) to be in error.
Precepts—a commandment or direction given as a rule of action or conduct.
“What goes into the mouth does not defile a man; but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man.”
“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of blind men. But if a blind man guide a blind man, both fall into a pit.”
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is they that defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immorality, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Jesus feeds four thousand. Seven loaves and a few little fishes. Seven full baskets of fragments.
Matthew Chapter 16: The Pharisees and Sadducees ask a sign; The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees; Peter’s confession; Passion and resurrection foretold; The doctrine of the cross.
“When it is evening you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning you say, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and lowering.’ You know how to read the face of the sky, but cannot read the signs of the times.
Pharisees—a member of a Jewish sect that flourished during the 1st century b.c. and 1st century a.d. and that differed from the Sadducees chiefly in its strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices, adherence to oral laws and traditions, and belief in an afterlife and the coming of a Messiah; a sanctimonious, self-righteous, or hypocritical person.
Sadducees—a member of a Palestinian sect, consisting mainly of priests and aristocrats, that flourished from the 1st century b.c. to the 1st century a.d. and differed from the Pharisees chiefly in its literal interpretation of the Bible, rejection of oral laws and traditions, and denial of an afterlife and the coming of the Messiah.
“You of little faith, why do you argue among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand, nor remember… Why do you not understand that it was not of bread I said to you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?” Then they understood that he bade them beware not of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Leaven—a substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter; an element that produces an altering or transforming influence.
“Who do men say the Son of Man is?
“But who do you say that I am?”
“Thou art the Christ; the Son of the living God,” Simon Peter answered.
“And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven…
Then he strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
“Far be it from thee, O’Lord: this will never happen to thee.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, satan, thou art a scandal to me; for thou dost not mind the things of God, but those of men.”
“If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he who would save his life will lose it; but he who loses his life for my sake will find it. For what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”
Speak Your Mind