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Humble Hero
to pronounce the word
Corban
o ver h is p roperty, a nd he could
keep it for his own use during his lifetime, and after his death it was
donated for the temple service. In this way, he was free to dishonor
and defraud his parents, under cover of a pretended devotion to God.
Jesus spoke well of the poor woman who gave her all to the
temple treasury. But the priests and rabbis’ apparent zeal for God
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was just a show to cover a desire to exalt themselves. Even the dis-
ciples of Christ were not completely free from the yoke of inherited
prejudice and rabbinical authority. By revealing the true spirit of the
rabbis, Jesus was trying to free all who really wanted to serve God.
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Christ declared that by placing their requirements above the
divine laws, the rabbis were setting themselves above God. Jesus
explained that defilement does not come from the outside, but from
within. Purity and impurity are matters of the heart.
The Rage of the Spies
The disciples noticed the spies’ rage and heard their half-
muttered words of dissatisfaction and revenge. They told Christ,
hoping that He would make peace with the enraged officials: “Do
You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this
saying?”
He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not
planted will be uprooted.” The customs and traditions that the rabbis
valued so highly could not endure God’s testing.
Every human invention that people have substituted for the com-
mandments of God will be found worthless in that day when “God
will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing,
whether it is good or whether it is evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:14
. Even
among Christians, we can find institutions and practices that have