Mark 7: 1-8; 14-15;21-23
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090124.cfm
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.
(Collect of Mass)
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 ancient but new 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. 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 title” 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. What is
man made and what is of God.
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 an 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 rather than on a lived encounter with the 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 overseas 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 to create some sense of order in our lives. To know when we are in right balance with
each other and with God. To avoid
impurity, to know what is unclean, to embrace what is clean and to find a
proper place for things which would include human behavior. Ultimately, the law
of God is given in order that we may be called to personal conversion of heart.
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. As he clearly stated to the Pharisees:
“You disregard God’s commandment and cling to human tradition.” (Mk 7:8)
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 hand 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 law and cleanliness
as an indication of inner purity is deeply challenged by Jesus. He doesn’t speak about the hygienic property
of washing one’s hands. That’s not the
point here. All 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 honor me
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me . . .”
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.” 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 not external obedience that will justify a
man before God, it is the right order before God we live out from our heart of
love. Jesus desired to replace the unnecessary ritual of human prescriptions
with purity brought about by a living encounter with him. Hence, in the sacramental life of the Church,
particularly in the Eucharist, the living Christ is present to us and by our
humble reception of grace, we are purified by Christ who is made present to us
under the signs of bread and wine.
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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