In today's Gospel, we hear about the
Pharisees and scribes arguing with Jesus about the tradition of washing one's
hands as a purification ritual before eating in ancient Israel. It made me think about how important it was
for me to wash my hands and to try to stay clean as a missionary, which you can
imagine was quite a challenge living in the middle of a rainforest jungle. I would always carry soap, hand cleanser, and
bottled water with me in my backpack to make sure that I could wash up and have
clean drinking water wherever I went.
And even though I did get sick from diseases such as malaria and Dengue
fever, I managed to keep clear from stomach ailments like amoebic dysentery
that could come from dirty hands or dirty drinking water.
The back and forth amongst Jesus, the
Pharisees, and the scribes in today's Gospel is not really about who has clean
hands, but rather about what it means to keep God's laws. The Pharisees and scribes were so intent with
keeping the letter of God's law that they forget all about the spirit of the
law.
As we hear Moses explain to the people
of Israel the laws and that God gave them to live by, we get a sense of the
wisdom behind them. God’s laws are
designed to give his people life and freedom, not to burden them or enslave
them. They come from the God of wisdom,
the source of all life. The way the
Israelites are called to live by these law will help them bear fruit and to live
in trust & justice, showing their neighbors that they live under the one
true God.
If we keep in mind Moses' instructions
regarding God's law, we can better understand the interaction between Jesus and
the Pharisees and scribes. The scribes
and Pharisees believed that Jesus and his disciples were not respectful of the
traditions of the elders. The laws of
God are one thing, but Jesus is taking exception to the rules that have been
added through human traditions, such as the washing of hands, cups, jugs, and
kettles, and other such purity rituals.
What Jesus proposed to the scribes and
Pharisees about purity was very radical compared to their normal way of
thinking, as he redefines purity in terms of what comes out of a person. What Jesus is telling them is that while they
are so intent in practicing the correct traditions of their religion, they
ignore matters of substance in their relationships with their brothers and
sisters and in their practice of justice.
As we see Moses explain the law to
God's people, as we hear Jesus instruct the scribes and the Pharisees, we see
how the law is all about the covenant between God and his people – it is about
our relationship with our brothers and sisters. Jesus does not want our hearts to foster
motives or actions that hurt others or that set us apart from them, such as the
theft, murder, greed, malice, and deceit that Jesus mentions in today's
Gospel.
In a pastoral letter on Catholic social
teaching entitled Economic Justice for All, the US Bishops state
that the “codes of Israel reflect the norms of the covenant (between God &
his people): reciprocal responsibility, mercy, and truthfulness. They embody a life of freedom from
oppression: worship of the One God, rejection of idols, mutual respect among
people, care and protection for every member of the social body. Being free and being a co-responsible
community are God's intentions for us.”
Again, as the bishops state, it is our relationship with God and with
others, and how we live out those relationships in love, that is at the center
of God's law. This teaching from our
bishops reiterates what Jesus is teaching us in today’s Gospel.
Like we see in the Pharisees &
scribes, it is so easy for us to manipulate exterior laws and rules to feed our
egos, to make us feel good about ourselves.
As Jesus tells us, quoting the prophet Isaiah, our lips can honor God,
but if our hearts are elsewhere, we are not really following God's laws.
When I was a missionary in the jungles
of Ecuador, & also when I was a Peace Corps volunteer on a small island off
the coast of West Africa, I noticed how most people there, no matter what their
religious belief, also believed in the existence in good and evil spirits that
were in a battle against each other in our world. They saw these spirits as a very real presence
in their daily lives. Some even sought
people to give them assistance with these spirits, such as witch doctors who
would invoke evil spirits through curses, and others who would lift the curses
through special magic potions and rituals.
While it can be easy for us to
blame an evil spirit if our minds are overtaken by evil motives or thoughts, or
if we foster envy, blasphemy, or arrogance in our hearts. Jesus tells us to
look at our deeds & thoughts that come from within. It is a change of
heart, it is an embrace and cultivation of God's love & commandments that
will change us from within, that will have an affect on the deeds and actions
that come out of us. We can wash our hands
and saucers all day long, but this will not cleanse or purify that which we
foster in our hearts, in the way that the Holy Spirit can convert us and affect
movement and change in our lives. It
seems so much easier to concentrate our efforts on outside actions, such as the
obsession of the scribes & Pharisees to clean their hand, as well as jugs
& kettles. But God calls us much more difficult work: to the cleansing of
our hearts & our souls.
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