Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time September 1, 2024 “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
John 6:60-69 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time August 25, 2024 Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
August 24, 2024Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time September 1, 2024 “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
A. Text/Context
• The gospel today is another example where human customs, traditions, practices are upheld while the real essence of the practice of charity is set aside
• The Pharisees are questioning the disciples of Jesus why is it that they are eating with unclean hands when the practice of the majority of the Jews is really doing the purification before eating
• Again, Jesus is not against practices or traditions or customs
• In fact, Jesus is so compliant to the customs of the mainstream and traditional Jews
• They have rituals to make themselves clean: washing of the hands before eating, washing of the feet before entering a house
• The rituals on how to clean, the cups, the plates, even the kettle, there are laws on that
• And these things are difficult to follow. Say for example you visit and enter a house with your friends, the owner of the house will wash your feet and water does not flow from the faucet it has to be fetched a distance away. Can you imagine if you have 5 guests?
• And to think there are 613 laws on cleansing and purification that they have to follow
• But what Jesus did not like with the Pharisees is that they dwell more on the externals of following the law of cleanliness rather than the consideration for human need
• They make use of the provisions of religion while the needs of others are sacrificed. And so that defies and contradicts the very essence of charity because following the rituals are now more important than human beings
• What did Jesus say? You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition
• In his tirades against the Pharisees Jesus said: What enters into the mouth like food cannot defile the person
• But what defiles the person are the things that come out from within
• From the heart comes bad thoughts, deceit, greed, malice and all sorts of evil things
• It is very clear in the gospel today that externals are less important compared to the purity of the heart
B. Human Situation
• From the way Jesus presents his thoughts concerning the law, it now appears that the laws are useless if human needs are forgotten
• In some cultures like that of India, they have a caste system. It is a social strata that divides people. The lower caste will kiss the feet of the higher caste if they meet each other
• You can not fetch water from the higher caste if you belong to a lower caste
• And so because of the caste system also comes the abuse. The higher caste tortures and terrorizes the men and women of the lower caste even for a slight mistake
• In Iran, a man killed her sister because she was caught smoking which is so abhorrent in Islamic fundamentalism
• And do you see the similarities we have today, you can be killed anytime if you are known to be a drug user
• Greed is the root cause of this horrible evil. They have a network of people doing all the manufacturing, the production and the selling of drugs and because they are addictive the use of the drugs will continue forever and the money supply will continue forever
• It is really very difficult to judge a person because we do not know what is really going on why are they addicted? Because they are all victims
• The laws of the country, the customs and the traditions, and other forms of cultural practices if they are now placed higher or above human beings is no longer pleasing before the eyes of God
• In the book of Deuteronomy Moses exhorted the people to be obedient to their statutes as a sign of love and thanksgiving to God
• Jesus is not against tradition, but what Jesus conveys in the gospel is that the human being must be placed of utmost importance and well above the law
• If there is a break in the law. Consider the human factor. Offenders must be rehabilitated
• It is not important for God to see our clean externals what is pleasing to him is the purity of our hearts
• That’s why Jesus is mad at the Pharisees. People are already hungry but they do not care about giving food but they care about clean hands
• They flaunt themselves as righteous under the pretext of obedience to the law
• In the letter of James, it says that the religion that is pure before God and the father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world
C. Challenge
• So today we are reminded as a form of reflection also that we also need to evangelize culture
• If we have practices or traditions that hinder human development they should be stopped
• If we have laws that are so inhuman then we must work so they will be abrogated
• Discrimination does not have a place anymore in this world, where we value freedom, individual rights and liberty
• Jesus already made it clear in the gospel today that externals are useless if our hearts are full of hatred and malice and arrogance
• Jesus is not centered on the sinfulness of the person but he will continue with the invitation to go back and return to him
• Jesus wants charity to bloom in our hearts where the love of neighbor is very much alive
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