Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word. This week's question:

We have probably heard it said, "He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death." and "Honor your father and mother", (Matthew 15:4).

"Hear , my son, your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching; indeed, they are a graceful wreath around your head and ornaments about your neck" (Proverbs 1:8-9), "A wise son makes his father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother" (Proverbs 10:1), "A wise son accepts his father's discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." (Proverbs 13:1), "A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother." (Proverbs 15:20), "A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him." (Proverbs 17:25), "He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp will go out in time of darkness." (Proverbs 20:20), "Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old." (Proverbs 23:22), "Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you." (Proverbs 23:25), "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother." (Proverbs 29:15), and then, "There is a kind of man who curses his father and does not bless his mother." (Proverbs 30:11). Now that is a little bit of wisdom to feast upon!

 But, that begs the question of the Son of God's statement and our question of the day, "Why 'hate our father and mother'"?, as He says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26). This seems to be a direct contradiction to the passages we've just seen, so let us look at the definition of the word "hate" as it is used in this passage. The word is "miseo", and according to Thayer it is defined in this passage as "to love less". And so it is clear that Jesus is suggesting to "hate our father and mother", not in the sense of despising them, but only that we remember who truly is to be first in our lives, yes, even before our own selves, and that is love the Lord Jesus who gave that eternal sacrifice for the love that He shared with all mankind, yes, those who would only place Him foremost in their lives! And so there we have the answer to our question, as yes, we can love our father and mother, even our sister and brother, as well as ourselves, as long as they come in the correct order for life eternal. 

Jesus not only says that we should love father and mother, but also care for them in their elder years, as we can, as He chastises those that try to escape the duty of caring for their parents by using a lame excuse that their own goods are 'given to God', so they just can't do it, "For God said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, 'Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God.' he is not to honor his father or his mother .' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'" (Luke 15:4-9).

Let us not only love our father and mother, but be ready to help them in their time of need as we can. But also let us love our Lord and Savior first and foremost in our lives!