Mark 7:1-13
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples
were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the
Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and
never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from
the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are
also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the
washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes
asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but
eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that
Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture: This people honours
me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they
offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.
Y ou put aside the commandment of God to
cling to human traditions.’ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round
the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said:
Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or
mother must be put to death. But you say, “If a man says to his father or
mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Corban (that is,
dedicated to God), then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his
father or mother.” In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake
of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like
this.’
Food for thought!
You must have heard the expression: Doing the right thing
and doing things right! This expression is about two attitudes that
characterize all of us; we're either on the side doing the right thing or on
the side of doing things right. Today's Gospel is also about these two
attitudes. Indeed, Jesus is on the side of doing the right thing, while the so
called religious people of his time are after doing things right, that is,
practicing religion according to the laws and traditions of the elders.
To the religious scholars (scribes and Pharisees) the
religious rules and regulations were the essence of religion. To observe them
was to please God; to break them was to sin. This was their idea of goodness
and of the service of God. In the religious sense Jesus and these people spoke
different languages. It was precisely because Jesus had no use for all these
regulations that they considered him a bad man, just as we consider bad those
who don't keep the laws, rules and discipline of our Catholic church. There is
a fundamental cleavage here--the cleavage between the man who sees religion as
ritual, ceremonial, rules and regulations, and the man who sees in religion
loving God and loving his fellow-men.
There is no greater religious peril than that of
identifying religion with outward observance. There is no commoner religious
mistake than to identify goodness with certain so-called religious acts.
Church-going, bible-reading, careful financial giving, even time-tabled prayers
do not make a man a good man. The fundamental question is, how is a man's heart
towards God and towards his fellow-men? And if in his heart there are enmity,
bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward religious observances in the
world will make him anything other than a hypocrite.
Doing "the right thing" in religion is loving
God and neighbour (as Jesus taught) and not doing "things right"
(doing the right church ceremonies and keeping the right church rules).
BTW. The Catholic world has just been shocked by the
upcoming resignation of Pope Benedict, on February 28. Some people are already
criticizing his decision as improper, while others are praising him for courage
to do the right thing. Doing the right thing always leads to unpopular
decisions.
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