2021年1月19日 星期二

馬太福音15:1-20

 

15:1 那時,有法利賽人和文士從耶路撒冷來見耶穌,說:
15:2
「你的門徒為甚麼犯古人的遺傳呢?因為吃飯的時候,他們不洗手。」
15:3
耶穌回答說:「你們為甚麼因著你們的遺傳犯上帝的誡命呢?
15:4
上帝說:『當孝敬父母』;又說:『咒罵父母的,必治死他。』
15:5
你們倒說:『無論何人對父母說:我所當奉給你的已經作了供獻,
15:6
他就可以不孝敬父母。』這就是你們藉著遺傳,廢了上帝的誡命。
15:7
假冒為善的人哪,以賽亞指著你們說的預言是不錯的。他說:
15:8
這百姓用嘴唇尊敬我,心卻遠離我;
15:9
他們將人的吩咐當作道理教導人,所以拜我也是枉然。」
15:10
耶穌就叫了眾人來,對他們說:「你們要聽,也要明白。
15:11
入口的不能污穢人,出口的乃能污穢人。」
15:12
當時,門徒進前來對他說:「法利賽人聽見這話,不服(原文是跌倒),你知道嗎?」
15:13
耶穌回答說:「凡栽種的物,若不是我天父栽種的,必要拔出來。
15:14
任憑他們吧!他們是瞎眼領路的;若是瞎子領瞎子,兩個人都要掉在坑裡。」
15:15
彼得對耶穌說:「請將這比喻講給我們聽。」
15:16
耶穌說:「你們到如今還不明白嗎?
15:17
豈不知凡入口的,是運到肚子裡,又落在茅廁裡嗎?
15:18
惟獨出口的,是從心裡發出來的,這才污穢人。
15:19
因為從心裡發出來的,有惡念、凶殺、姦淫、苟合、偷盜、妄證、謗讟。
15:20
這都是污穢人的;至於不洗手吃飯,那卻不污穢人。」

 

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

 

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    人常常說:「病從口入!」然而真正使人處在「生病」狀態的,不是食物,而是人的話語!話語會影響人的觀念,觀念影響久了,就在內心孳生變成無法抹滅的思想!而這思想更是可怕,一代傳一代,人就不斷受到這些思想影響,這就成了傳統!

 

    就像這裡法利賽人和文士說:「你的門徒為甚麼犯古人的遺傳呢?因為吃飯的時候,他們不洗手。」這裡的「遺傳」,就是傳統的意思!這也就是說,吃飯洗手是很重要的傳統,為什麼不遵守呢?

 

    然而主耶穌這裡要讓這些法利賽人和文士清楚上帝的命令比傳統更是重要為甚麼不看重偏偏看重傳統而不看重上的的命令這是非常不合理的事這樣等於高舉人超越過上帝了這樣就有違背聖經教導的敬畏上帝了

 

    就像主耶穌在這裡說到這些法利賽人有一個很奇怪的傳統就是「無論何人對父母說:我所當奉給你的已經作了供獻,他就可以不孝敬父母。」

 

    殊不知這樣的傳統不僅使人誤解奉獻的意義,也讓人以此為託辭不再奉養父母,如此下去在當時沒有退休金的年代,老人家的生活就變得很困苦了!如此有違被上帝在十誡中頒布當孝敬父母的命令,使人不敬畏上帝!

 

    同樣今日有許多的「傳統」要經過聖經來審視,讓傳統來為上帝的命令效力,而不是讓傳統成為違背上帝命定的藉口。正如上帝要我們不要崇拜別的神,所以我們不要讓文化中異教的傳統混入教會之中,正如古代的神學家特土良(Tertullian),他是很有學問的神學家,但他非常反對世界、羅馬的文化。他有一些犀利的批判,其中一句就是「耶路撒冷跟雅典有什麼關係?」

 

   因此,我們要高舉上帝的話高過一切的傳統,讓耶穌基督的福音高過人的文化,甚至是教會的文化!

 

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