5to Mandamiento: Honra a tu padre y tu madre

We have seen the commandments from one to four, yes, and we notice that all of them highlight our relationship with God. Yes, honor me only to me. Do not make any physical representation of God. Do not take the name of Yahweh, your Elohim, with a useless purpose and honor the rest of the seventh day. The first four commandments are about human beings and their relationship with God. The interesting thing is that the commandments from six to ten, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not covet, or do not desire what is not yours, focus very clearly on our relationship with other human beings. Of course. And in the middle is commandment number five, which is the cross between how we relate to God and how we relate to our neighbor. You will honor your father and your mother so that your days are prolonged in the land that Yahweh, your Elohim, gives you. The way you relate to God is very connected with the way you relate to these two human beings. Yes. Notice how the word you, your father, your mother, your Elohim, your father and your mother are the ones who gave you life, and your Elohim is the one who gives you the land where you can live your life. So, the way I relate to the one who created me and sustained my existence is unique and must be treated in a special way. Yes. And that special treatment is called honor.

It comes from the Hebrew verb kabed, which means to be heavy, to have physical weight. Okay, it has to do with the something of weight or seriousness. Totally. It is something important. Yes, it is significant. So, you treat them considering that they are important. For example, let's look at Proverbs 14.31. The one who oppresses the poor faces his doer. By treating unjustly someone who has less than you, you are making fun of his creator. Wow, he has a lot of weight. He has enormous implications. But then it says, the one who is generous with the needy honors him. It's like saying, you deserve something, but you are also honoring the creator of that person. So, honoring your parents has to do with respecting them. Yes. However, in the Hebrew Bible, honor means to share, to be generous, and to give financial support. So, the interesting thing is that this is probably how Jesus interpreted this commandment. He says, Listen, Moses said, Honor your father and your mother. But you say that if someone says to his father and his mother, Hey, mom and dad, I know you were expecting me to receive support in your old age, but the money I had set aside to do that for you,

I dedicated it as an offering to God in the temple. I'm sorry. So, apparently, there was a legal void that allowed to decrease what one gave to his parents to allocate that money as an offering to God. Okay. And for Jesus, it's like, it's exactly the opposite. Jesus is quite indignant. I think that for Jesus, honoring your father and your mother is the way to honor God. They took care of you and they generated you, and you can give them back that care. And there is something in that reciprocal care that generates long days on earth. How does a community have a long life through many generations? Exactly. It is through reciprocal care within the same community. Our parents gave us life when they were young, and we can help them by sustaining their lives in old age. It is through this reciprocal care. This is the only commandment on the list that contains a promise. So that they have a long life on earth. Yes. And for Jesus, this commandment had nothing to do only with biological parents. I think that what made the movement of Jesus in its beginnings become so socially influential was that they created a sense of family

that went beyond the lineage and biological kinship. So Jesus really wants us to expand the scope of the fifth commandment. The people of God must esteem the elders. Yes. And take care of the widows, and honor all those who gave us life. And when we do that, we honor God, and we create a community that thrives. Music