"You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition"
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Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082921.cfm
If you’ve ever had the experience of visiting a Monastic community such as we are blessed with here in Oregon at Mt. Angel Abbey, you might find the opportunity to pray with the Monks is both inspiring and somewhat off putting. The ringing of bells begins the “call to prayer,” the harmonious singing of chant, the recitation of the ancient psalms, the bowing and coordinated sitting and standing, the proper entrance of the monastic community based on seniority beginning with the Abbot, and all else lends a beauty to the rhythm of prayer. The sound of music and the words of the psalms themselves may be a bit off putting at first along with the flow of the prayer time. It may at first seem confusing or a bit rigid.
All the daily prayer hours beginning with the
Office of readings and ending with night prayer take place at the same time every
day, regardless of season of the year. If one joins a monastery, then, they
should be a person who is comfortable with routine, with a law that is rather
unchangeable for the rest of their lives.
It may be prayer at 5:30 a.m., 12 noon, 5:15 p.m, and 8 p.m. every day
for the rest of their lives. No matter what may come in order to remain
faithful, a monk must pray evening prayer at 5:15 p.m. each and every day. Thus is the general routine of monastic
living. Our exercise of the law can find some similarity. It provides order,
balance, and freedom.
The point of all this is what we see in the Gospel this Sunday. Jesus once again finds himself at odds with the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his time among the Jews. Their slavish demand for obedience to every “jot and tittle” of the law brings us to see how unrealistic, oppressive, and controlling this law had become. The point is to discern between what is necessary and what is incidental.
This was one principals of the reform of liturgy during the Second Vatican Council. Had the Mass and other liturgical rites become too cumbersome, too rigid, too weighed down by external emphasis on rubrics and appearances that it was hiding the true purity of the Mass? Was the Mass more of a show and focus on externals than on an experience of Christ and a clear call to personal and communal conversion of heart?
Now let’s not be too hasty to look negatively on the
value of law. Certainly a society
without any protections, parameters and rules of safety would be chaos or
extreme anarchy. These days we hear so much about abuse of power, how civic
leaders are misusing their authority, and oversees we see lands ruled by thugs
whose whole existence is to cause chaos.
So we need the law to govern us.
For ancient Israel there is nothing more sacred than the
Law of God. It is their gift to the
world. The purpose of the law was about
creating some sense of order to our lives.
To know when we are in right balance with each other and with God. To avoid impurity, to know what is unclean in
order to embrace what is clean and to find a proper place for things which
would include human behavior. This was
the concern of the Pharisees as they confronted Jesus. That he was challenging the right order of
things and encouraging his own disciples to push the envelope and to have no
regard for the proper order of things.
Their behavior would have seemed dangerous and scandalous to the average
Jew. But the question which Jesus
tackled was the legalistic and rigid view and application of laws that had been
created and now smothered the true purpose of divine law by the weight of human traditions.
To see our pursuit of God’s law, for example,
as given not to restrict and restrain us from freedom but rather to lead us to
a more peaceful and joyful life. We
Americans seem to have both a love and hate relationship with law. On the one had we resist it and push against
it if we feel it restricts our freedom. And on the other we see it as a great
value that can keep order and respect in society. Law can be seen as opposing my inherent
freedom to choose how I want to live my life or it can be seen as teaching me
to appreciate the greater good we find in one another such as the legal
protection of the vulnerable and poor among us.
Their emphasis on dietary and cleanliness as
an indication of inner purity is deeply challenged by Jesus. He doesn’t speak to the hygienic property of
washing ones hands. That’s not the point
here. All of these washing rituals which dominated the culture of Jesus time had
become equated with religious purity before God and the “keeping of traditions”
created a heavy legalistic culture that placed human law on a par with divine
law or in some cases an indispensable element of obedience.
Jesus quotes Isaiah: “This people honors me
with their lips but their hearts are far from me . . .” and then continues in
his own words: “You disregard God’s commandments but cling to human tradition.”
God’s law is given to us in simplicity with
two demands: “To love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and to love our
neighbor as ourselves.” The love of God
and neighbor which summarizes and, when lived out faithfully in all parts of our life,
help to guard the integrity of the moral and spiritual life. A life of mutual
sharing of love between us and God. This demands that I look within, as Jesus
comments in the Gospel about the source of “evil” or sin and recognize my need
for conversion. I could follow all the
laws but still miss the point. It is
Our nature is good for God has created all
things to be good. Yet, we are flawed and
in need of a way out. Christ has shown
us that way through his death and resurrection.
He didn’t die and rise for our sanitation, as important as that is for
the general health of all of course.
But, redemption is about our spirit; our call to conversion of heart and
mind so that we may be examples of Christ to others.
Jesus hits this by reminding the “holier than
thou” leaders that their obsessive rituals will not bring them closer to
God. They need to look within and not on
the outside. My behavior, my values, my
passions and desires, my lack of care for others unselfishly, my thoughts, my
desire for wealth, power, and attention from others, and all those things
related to such is what makes me impure. To see the sin within us and know that
God’s Law, which comes from without us, is there to lead us to a higher level
of moral and spiritual growth. The
service we offer through humility and compassion to others, motivated by our
true religious principles, will indeed bring us closer to our loving God. For Christ is present in those we serve and when we encounter others in love, we find Christ himself.
As Jesus so eloquently reflected in the
Beatitudes from his sermon on the mount (Mt 5), the “pure of heart, the
merciful, the lowly, the poor in spirit” are the indication of true goodness
and holiness.
May our Eucharist be the food we become in
the daily practice of God’s law of love who is Christ himself.
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God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have nurtured.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
(Collect of Mass)
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