A commentary on Mk 7,1-8.14-15.21-23 (XXII Sunday O. T. August 30th 2015)
After five Sundays reading John’s chapter sixth (Jesus, the Bread of Life), we come back to the ongoing reading of Mark; five Sundays ago we left Jesus in Galilee, praying over the mountain, walking over the lake, healing sick people… announcing the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of God’s nearness, mercy and truth.
In today’s reading we see Jesus in a clear confrontation with a group of people coming from Jerusalem –Pharisees and scribes- that confused human rules and traditions (even religious) with the true cult to God. It’s not a new theme, since the prophets used to recall it from time to time. In fact, Jesus quotes Isaiah, whose words cut through hypocrisy as sword with a cutting edge:
“This people honours me with the lips,
But their hearts are far from me.
In vain do they worship me
Teaching as doctrines human precepts” (Is 29, 13)
And Jesus insists:
“Nothing that enters one from the outside
Can defile those persons,
but what come from the heart”.
It’s not that Jesus despises human rules and laws (even religious ones); the may be very useful and needy for social living. Jesus, in general, was quite respectful and obedient to these laws and to the rules of his human and religious community. But what he says is that we should not confuse these human laws and traditions with the “true cult to God”, especially when behind them there’s a wicked, arrogant and insincere heart.
The cult to God is truthful when proceeds from a heart that is right, truthful and merciful. The tree does not giver better fruits just because somebody paints nicely the leaves, but when its roots are “rooted” in a good and fertile land. In the same way, people are not changed with external rites but with the Word of God accepted and received in a heart that is open, sincere, and rightful. That’s what the heart of Jesus is, the same we identify ourselves with when we go to communion. From this heart many good fruits come out: good works, new rules, new traditions, and new forms of cult… Where there’s life, life is generated.
Give me, o Lord, a heart that is rightful, sincere, and open to the Holy Spirit, who makes everything new.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Roma
