22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B – Sept. 1, 2024

 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B – Sept. 1, 2024

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

 

Theme: Human Laws Versus Divine Laws

The Catholic Church has dedicated the month of September to the Word of God. So, worldwide, we celebrate the month of the Bible this month. The Church exhorts all faithful Christians to venerate the Word of God in the Church and our families. First and foremost, in the liturgy of the Mass, we are called to celebrate the Word of God with reverence and participate in it actively. This active participation is not just a duty, but a way to truly connect with the Word of God. It means we should listen attentively when God speaks to us in the scripture readings and pay attention to the priest or deacon when they interpret the Word of God to us in the homilies. Second, our Mother Church encourages all parishes to establish Bible Study groups to give opportunities to the faithful to meditate, read, and study the Word of God. Third, the Church also urges all families to venerate the Word of God at home. I recommend all families make a “Family Bible Corner” in our homes. A “Family Bible Corner” is a suitable place to prepare in one corner of your living room where you display an open Bible. It could be a small table, for example, covered with a white tablecloth (or any liturgical colors: red, purple, or green), well decorated with flowers, candles, and maybe with a crucifix or rosary. The Family Bible Corner should be visible to anyone who enters the house. Its purpose is to remind the household members and the guest visitors that the Word of God is the center of our family. This Family Bible Corner can also be used where the family meets for family prayer or any spiritual gathering.

After meditating on the “Bread of Life” discourse in chapter six of the Gospel of Saint John during the past five Sundays, we return to the Gospel of Mark as we are in the liturgical calendar year B.  Today’s Scripture readings discuss the importance of observing God’s laws. In the Gospel, Jesus reprimands the Pharisees because they do not observe divine laws as much as they do with human laws. In the first reading, Moses exhorts his fellow Israelites to hear and observe God’s commandments, without adding to or subtracting from them, if they want to live with God and enter the promised land. James teaches his audience the same thing in our second reading when he calls them to welcome God’s Word planted in them, which can save their souls.

Our Gospel passage immediately follows the story of Jesus healing many sick people at Gennesaret (6:53-56) and precedes that of the Syrophoenician woman’s faith (7:24-30). After Jesus fed over five thousand people (6:34-44), his disciples got into the boat and preceded him to the other side toward Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd and went off to the mountain to pray. Later, about the fourth watch of the night, he followed them, walking on the Sea, when the disciples were experiencing bad storms. His disciples were afraid and terrified, confusing Jesus with a ghost. Jesus assured them it was he, got to the boat, and the wind died down. After they crossed the Sea and came to Gennesaret, Jesus healed many sick people from the surrounding country. Our Gospel reading picks up from here. Its context is that the Pharisees and Scribes noticed Jesus’ disciples eating meals with unclean hands, breaking then the Jewish tradition of ritual purification. They use this incident to ridicule him and show to the crowds that he is not an orthodox religious teacher.  

Our text is a narrative story with a parable. Vv.1-5 can be considered an introduction. The Pharisees and Scribes express their indignation to Jesus about his disciples who broke the tradition of their ancestors. The narrator explains what this tradition is about. Then, in the body of the text, Jesus addresses the issue in three stages. (1) He blames the Pharisees and Scribes for worrying solely when human laws are broken, but they are not concerned about divine laws that they transgress every day (vv.6-8).  (2) He condemns them for replacing divine laws with human laws and for adding human laws to the religion, making them sound like they were from God (vv.9-13. These verses are omitted in our reading.)  (3) Through a parable, he teaches that foods, which the Jews consider unclean, cannot defile a person, but the evils that come out from the hearts of people can (vv. 14-15, 21-23).

Let us start with the introductory part. The Pharisees and Scribes noticed Jesus’ disciples eating meals without following the ritual purification of hands, which was the tradition of their ancestors (elders). This tradition refers to unwritten interpretations of human laws, which the Pharisees and Scribes regarded as having the same binding force as the laws of Moses. They approach Jesus and express their indignation to him. They asked, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat with unclean hands?” Through this question, they do not attack the disciples but Jesus. Their objective is to ridicule Jesus in front of the crowds and thus undermine his authority as a teacher.  The message they give to the crowds is that Jesus does not teach his disciples even the most basic practices of piety, so he is not an acceptable religious teacher (vv.1-5)

 In his answer, Jesus does not say if his disciples did right or wrong. Instead, he changes the trajectory of the question from a concern about human laws to a concern about divine laws. He addresses the issue in three stages. (1) He shows how the Jews made an equation between divine laws and human laws (see vv.6-8). Quoting Isaiah, he calls them “hypocrites” because they break divine laws for the sake of human laws (vv.6-7). The Pharisees and Scribes do not observe God’s commandments as much as they do with their tradition. “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” (V. 8).

What we should understand here is that Jesus is not against human laws. He is rather against the fact that the Pharisees and Scribes are not concerned about God’s commandments, which they do not observe. They are only preoccupied when human laws are transgressed. They give more value to human laws than to divine laws. Here, our Holy Mother Church challenges us to reflect on how much value we give to observing divine laws (God’s Commandments and the Church’s doctrines and precepts.) Are we concerned when we break divine laws? For instance, the Church teaches that all faithful are obligated to participate in Sunday Masses and other holy days of obligation; we should avoid activities that prevent us from worshiping our Lord and enjoying God’s day (Canon 1247). We should be very concerned every time we break God’s commandments and the teachings of the Church.

(2) In vv. 9-13 that are omitted in our reading, Jesus condemns the Jews for replacing divine laws with human laws. He uses how the Pharisees and Scribes interpret the commandment of the Decalogue concerning parents to illustrate his argument. He condemns them also for adding human laws to the religion, making them sound like they were from God. “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! … You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.” (vv. 9, 13). The author of the book of Deuteronomy dealt with this danger in the passage we heard in our first reading. Before he handed the commandments of God to his fellow Israelites, Moses said: “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.” (Dt 4: 2). Moses urged them not to add nor to abstract.

Today, like the Pharisees and Scribes, we sometimes replace the Church's teachings with our own. Many Christians also add to and abstract from the Church teachings, making them match what we want. Our lesson here is that we should not replace the Church's teachings with our own ways of seeing things. We should not add to or abstract from God’s commandments and the Church’s precepts even though they challenge us.

(3) Jesus addresses the problem of clean and unclean foods. He told the crowds a parable: “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” (Vv. 4-15). He explained this parable to his disciples in private. In this parable, Jesus refers to the human-made dietary laws of the Jewish religion. It is about the clean and unclean foods that Christians of Jewish origin tried to impose on Christians from Gentile backgrounds in the early Church. This law states that prohibited food makes people impure. So, these people cannot be fit to partake in cultic worship. Jesus’ intervention makes it clear: what makes people clean or unclean is not what enters the mouth but the evils that come out from people’s hearts. So, we must be concerned about the sins we commit every day. Jesus lists some of them: “Evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly.” We have many more. In this month of the Word of God, we pray that the Sacred Scriptures we read and hear every time transform us to leave all our sins behind us. This is what Saint James advises us in our second reading. He stresses that the Word of God is a genuine benefit from above, freely given by God. If we welcome this Word with faith, it will save us. He invites us to not only listen to God’s Word but also observe it.

As we begin September, the month of the Word of God, let us pray that the liturgy of this Mass will enable us to observe divine laws, which are God’s commandments and the Church’s teachings, especially promoting the Word of God where we live. Amen.   

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD