First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Reflection:
This Sunday’s first reading speaks of the time after the Exodus when the Israelites were in the wilderness. Moses was preparing them for their eventual entrance into the Promised Land. God had already revealed the divine law to the people through Moses and made a covenant with them. Moses reminded the people of God’s laws and how they are life-giving. He exhorted them to not add or subtract from the law. God’s laws are perfect. To try to add or subtract from them means there is a distrust of God and an attempt to be one’s own god who decides what is right and wrong, rather than submitting to God’s ways. This attitude was evident in Jesus’ day with the Pharisees too, as we will see in the gospel reading. It is also prevalent today in our society. Many people act like they can determine their own set of moral principles. Many people don’t listen to God’s commandments, but rather add their own laws or, more commonly, subtract from the laws of God, picking and choosing what they want to obey and, therefore, making up their own morality along the way (this is called moral relativism). What is the remedy to this? Just like in Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites, we need to stand fast in following God’s commandments. By doing so, we will witness to the world the “wisdom and intelligence” that is found in doing life God’s way.
Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21B-22, 27
Reflection:
The Epistle of James offers many great nuggets of wisdom for daily living. In this passage we hear that God is the source of all good things. The many blessings we have are all from God who does not change. We can trust in his faithfulness in offering us what is best. One of those amazing gifts is “birth by the word of truth.” The “word of truth” is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. This word has been “planted” in us and brought about a new “birth” at baptism. Through baptism, God gives us the gift of salvation, washing clean our sins and instilling in us his divine life. For that gift to continue to bear fruit in our lives, though, we must continue to “humbly welcome” it. God’s grace can lead us to salvation and, therefore, eternal life with him in heaven (the greatest of all gifts), but we must accept that gift and live accordingly. Like the Israelites in the first reading, we are called to obey God’s commandments. In the words of James, we are to “be doers of the word and not hearers only.” This means putting our faith into action. It is not enough to just call ourselves Christians, we must also act like it in our daily lives, striving to do what God calls us to do.
Gospel Reading: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Reflection:
Why was such a big deal made over washing hands before meals? Were the Pharisees the hygiene police of their day? The issue in this Sunday’s gospel was not hygiene but ritual purity and following “the tradition of the elders.” Jesus’ disciples were not following the well-established custom of ritually washing their hands before eating a meal, and the Pharisees were confronting Jesus about this to try to discredit him. Jesus responded bluntly, calling the Pharisees “hypocrites” and quoting from Isaiah to illustrate that they were simply giving lip-service to God. The Pharisees were all about external appearances and were quick to point the finger at anyone who appeared to be a bad Jew because they were not observing one of the traditions. But their hearts were far from God. In fact, their worship was in vain because they were not concerned about their relationship with God and others as much as they were focused on themselves. Moreover, they had established a “human tradition” as equal to the laws of God. In other words, they did exactly what was prohibited in the first reading—they added to the commandments of God. Washing hands before a meal was not revealed by God, but was created as a “tradition of the elders.” In and of itself, this was not a bad thing (it did actually promote good hygiene!), but the problem was with the Pharisees treating this man-made law as equal with the divine law. Jesus used this opportunity to teach the crowds that exterior ritual purity is not as essential as interior spiritual purity. We must seek to be cleansed from sin. The question is, where are our hearts at? We can easily fall into the trap of the Pharisees by simply going through the external motions of our faith, but God wants us to be filled with his grace and purified on the inside.
Application:
- Have you ever fallen into the trap of attempting to add to or subtract from God’s law, maybe because you don’t like something the Church teaches? It’s okay to wrestle with difficult teachings/laws, but ultimately we’re called to humbly recognize that “God is God and we are not.” God knows what’s best for us (even better than we know what is best for ourselves). Will you trust that His law and the teachings He has given to the Catholic Church are good, true, and beautiful? Will you seek to align your life with God’s commandments, which help us to know how to love Him and love others?
- Have you ever found yourself just going through the external motions of faith? Maybe you look and act like you have it all together on the outside, but inside you’re in a bad place spiritually. We can look like good Christians from the outside, while our hearts can be far from God. God wants all of us, not just our outward signs of faith (as good as those are). God wants us to have a personal relationship with him. Will you invite him into the deepest and darkest parts of your life and allow him to transform you from the inside out?
