Expert: Scott Talbot - 2/6/2012

Question
Hello and thak you for your time!

What does the reference to Honour thy Father and Mother in Mt 15:1-11 and Mark 7:5-16 mean?

Are they teaching that there is a Biblical mandate to provide for your parents when they are old and the scribes and pharisees were saying that if you give a gift to the temple than you were not obligated to provide for your parents and Jesus said
they made the Word of God of none effect by their actions.

What if the child is married and has their own family now?

Thanks again

Answer
Hi Zeek,

In these passages, Jesus is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking tradition (in their minds, the equivalent of God's law), while Jesus fired back by explaining how they used their own tradition to violate God's law.

He used the illustration of an individual who used Pharisaical tradition to mistreat his parents. By claiming that his money and possessions were dedicated to God, he claimed that he was unable to use that money to help care for his needy parents. See http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/4015.htm

This passage is not intended to teach that adult children are obligated to provide for their parents. All it is saying is that, if someone is in need of our help, it is good to help them to the extent that we are able. The Pharisees tried to avoid such assistance by hypocritically hiding behind the legalistic claim that they had a more noble use for that money ... all while retaining it in their own possession.

Scott