Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
By Colleen O'Sullivan
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mark 7:14-23)
Piety
A clean heart create for me, God;
Renew within me a steadfast spirit.
(Psalm 51:12)
Study
Once again the Pharisees and Jesus have been having a go round, this time about Jesus’ disciples eating without first purifiying themselves with Jewish handwashing rituals. The irony of the situation is that they all have the same end goal. They all want to be pure in the eyes of God. They simply don’t agree on how to get there.
In a way, life would be so much easier if the Pharisees had it right. They regarded themselves as the guardians of the Law as well as the numerous traditions and observances that, over the years, had become attached to the Law and been elevated to the same status. There were rules about avoiding certain foods, washing in a prescribed manner, following strict prohibitions against certain activities on the Sabbath, etc. There was a rule for every situation, it seemed. And, the Pharisees believed that if you followed all these rules and customs to the letter, you would be pure. Wouldn’t it be great if all we had to do was comply with all these external prescriptions and prohibitions? I’m pretty good at following rules. It’s all spelled out. Not much discerning or personal responsibility required.
But then Jesus comes along and turns the Pharisees’ thinking on its head. He says that it isn’t external things that render a person pure or impure. It isn’t what goes into us from the outside; it’s what comes from within us, from our hearts, that determines what God sees when God looks at us. It’s relatively easy to do what’s expected of us on the outside. But, we can go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day, we can fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstain from eating meat on the Fridays in Lent, etc., and, at the same time, be walking around with hearts of stone. Jesus gives the disciples a long list of the things he knows come from within us that keep us from being pure. Looking at the list reminds me that it’s so much more difficult to have inner attitudes that are full of love for God and our brothers and sisters than to follow a set of rules about how to conduct ourselves.
Action
In the book of the prophet Ezekiel, God makes us a promise: "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Eze 36:26). When you are praying today, picture God looking into your heart. What does God see there? Ask God to forgive whatever hardens your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to work within you to fill your heart with love.
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