Gospel Reflection | prayer | Sunday Mass
We live in a world of rules and protocols. Everywhere we look, there are guidelines, laws that must be followed, and traffic cops hiding behind billboards to enforce them. We are comforted, and kept safe, by laws. Yet sometimes laws that seem reasonable in one moment become self-serving in another.
In yesterday's Gospel (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23), the Pharisees are back in the game of trying to trap Jesus for His lack of strict adherence to Jewish law, this time as it pertains to the washing of hands and ritual purification before eating. As usual, Jesus doesn't mince His words. He calls the Pharisees hypocrites, citing Isaiah's prophecies as specific to them:
“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."
The Pharisees observe Jesus and His disciples and chastise them for not following the traditions of the elders. Jesus responds, “You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition.” I’m sure the Pharisees were taken aback. After all, these rituals handed down from the elders were intended to be signs of respect and pleasing to God. In the end, however, they are human traditions passed down from the ages, not commandments from God.
Readings that Point to the Gospel
While we are used to having the other readings thematically support or point to the Gospel, I have found this Sunday’s readings to be especially significant as they perfectly line up with the Gospel. The First Reading, with Moses, establishes God's law with the intent for salvation, and the caveat “you shall not add to what I command you.”
Psalm 15 tells us how to behave according to God’s laws, to not just follow the law but live it in our hearts. The response, “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord,” tells us we will be rewarded for following God’s commandments. The psalm is clear about those who know the truth in their hearts and show the truth in their actions.
Then, in Sunday's second reading, we are exhorted to be “doers of the word and not just hearers.” Again, it speaks to a proper action that aligns with God’s Word.
Finally, in the Gospel, we find a point of contention between the Pharisees and Jesus, the chasm between the letter of man’s law and the spirit of God’s law. The Pharisees, hyper-fixated on the law, cannot hear Jesus when He tells them, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”
Jesus’ Words to the Pharisees (and Us)
Sometimes I feel like the Pharisees. I know the right answers. I can explain, in detail, obscure church practices or cite from the Catechism of the Catholic Church to make a point. To the casual onlooker in Adoration, I am pious and absorbed in the Lord's presence, but I am, in reality, going through a grocery list of distractions. I am a ball of self-absorption.
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees hit a mark in my own heart: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” This is certainly a discourse on hypocrisy, and even a lesson on minding your own business, where, if you don't mind the mixed metaphor, there's a plank in my own eye.
But it's so much more. Two things are happening here. First, Jesus is pointing out that the Pharisees’ focus shifted from the Commandments, which are of God, to the interests of their man-made observances. The fact that this ritual cleansing is intended to be pleasing to God does not mean that it is, in fact, pleasing to God. How often do we do things for our pleasure or our desire and declare that it will be pleasing to God? Isn't that just a way of making God into our image? The Pharisees have made idols of their laws.
The second, and perhaps most detrimental, is that holding onto these practices can lead us to a weakened faith if we allow them to take precedence over what has been ordained by God. Do we put our trust in God’s Word or man’s traditions?
As I thought about Jesus’ words, “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition,” I couldn’t help but think about the many devotions and sacramentals I have used over the years. I admit to a certain fastidiousness in reciting a litany of prayers every morning, too often as a checklist to get done. “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,” now rings loudly in my ears.
Clinging to the Wrong Things
What good is an arduous recital of a daily Rosary, or praying the Liturgy of the Hours, or finishing novenas when we are careless about the Mass or reluctant to confess our sins to a priest? Are we, like the Pharisees, clinging to the wrong things? I thought about this for some time. Our devotions are good for us in that they are aids in helping us follow God’s commandments and draw closer to Him. The spiritual danger to us is when we, like the Pharisees, turn them into idols.
Jesus doesn't use the word for scrupulosity, but we understand it loosely to mean that we focus on the details of the law and forget from whom we received it. The Pharisees, so caught up in their petty grievance over cleanliness are unaware that they are speaking with the Lord. Yet, Jesus speaks to them with authority, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.”
Jesus emphasizes that sin living within our hearts is what truly defiles us. Aligning our hearts with God's will by following His commandments and living with pure hearts pleases God. Let us be pleasing to our God by obeying His commandments.