"And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."Mar 7:9-13
Corban was referring to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner. According to contemporary Jewish tradition the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one's parents.
Today, we are not under the Mosaic Law and other financial options may be available to people in retirement. But this, too, does not absolve a child from taking care of elderly or disabled parents who may need financial, emotional and spiritual support.
Even though this passage speaks specifically about widows who, in those days, were generally quite helpless without a bread-winner, I believe the same imperative applied to any family member/parent who needed financial or other help to cope with life. So children & any other family member had a duty of care to his family just as they did to those in the Church family.
"And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."Mar 7:9-13
Corban was referring to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner. According to contemporary Jewish tradition the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one's parents.
Today, we are not under the Mosaic Law and other financial options may be available to people in retirement. But this, too, does not absolve a child from taking care of elderly or disabled parents who may need financial, emotional and spiritual support.
Honor your mother and father as you ought.
Even though this passage speaks specifically about widows who, in those days, were generally quite helpless without a bread-winner, I believe the same imperative applied to any family member/parent who needed financial or other help to cope with life. So children & any other family member had a duty of care to his family just as they did to those in the Church family.
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