Gospel – Mark 7:1-8. 14-15. 21-23

You forget the commandments of God and hold on to human tradition.

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.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’

He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Gospel Reflection

“To Hope and Act with Creation”
Reflection on the Gospel-22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
(Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

From September 1 to October 4, we join with Christians across the globe in celebrating the Season of Creation. The 2024 theme, “To hope and act with creation” invites us to maintain the struggle even as we witness the devastating effects of the climate crisis. Today’s gospel recounts a legal dispute about ritual purity. Jesus demonstrates the futility of focussing attention on the things that do not matter while neglecting the weightier issues of life.

At issue for the scribes and Pharisees in the story is the failure of Jesus’ disciples to respect their oral tradition, in this instance to perform ritual washings before eating. From their perspective, the disciples are not “walking” according to the tradition of the elders. For the Markan Jesus, “the command of God” is paramount, not some distorted interpretation of it. He offers a hard-hitting counter-critique of their attitude to law. He calls them “hypocrites” and informs them that the condemnation of the prophet Isaiah was intended for them. They have so distorted God’s law, substituting their own observances for the “commandment of God” that their prayer amounts to nothing more than lip-service, their hearts are far from God, and their worship is worthless!

For Jesus, there are criteria other than such observances for determining who is clean or unclean. He has already declared a leper clean (Mk 1:41-45). For Jesus, the “heart” is the locus of purity and impurity. For him as for all his people, the heart was the seat of the intellect and of morality as well as the seat of the emotions. In the kin-dom of God, therefore, one’s thoughts, desires, and intentions render one clean or unclean, not one’s attention to hygiene. The latter is important of course, but it is peripheral in the context being addressed in the gospel. It is worth applying the criteria provided at the end of the passage to discover whether or not our “hearts” are near or distant from our God. The real-life Pharisees of the first century were the respected teachers of God’s law. It is imperative that stories such as we find in today’s gospel are not used to denigrate the Jews or to pit Christianity over against Judaism. We have to keep reminding ourselves that time and again we are dealing with in-house debates between Jewish groups. This gospel passage invites us to look at how we deal with unfair critics who can hurt us only if we allow them to do so.

Finally, this episode, with its attention to ritual washing, raises the issue of the right use of water, that precious earth element without which there would be no life at all on our planet. We might, for instance, as part of our engagement with the Season of Creation, be more attentive to those who have no access to clean drinking water by raising our voices against projects that contaminate water supply to vulnerable communities.

Sr Veronica Lawson rsm

© The scriptural quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Co Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. The English translation of the Psalm Responses, the Alleluia and Gospel Verses, and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, and the Titles, Summaries, and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass © 1997, 1981, 1968, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.