22nd Sunday OT, Year B
Deacon Albert
St. John the Evangelist Cathedral
Does Jesus have a problem with good hygiene? I mean, what is wrong with washing your hands and dishes before you eat? Or with the occasional “purification… of beds?” Surely Jesus doesn’t want us to sleep on sheets full of mildew and put our food on a layer of crumbs and mold from the last meal, does he? Of course not. These things are good in themselves and there is nothing wrong with doing them. But, Jesus has a reputation to uphold. His family honor is on the line here.
You see, His Father a long time ago told the Israelites to “observe [his commands] carefully” without adding to them or taking them away. But the big deal is that God puts His own reputation on the line. He tells them that, when the Jews observe his commands, the other nations will realize that their gods are not “so close to [them] as the Lord… is to [the Israelites] whenever [they] call upon him.” God’s relationship with mankind – the evidence of his Love for us is at stake. Not only that, but scripture boasts that no other “nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law” given by God through Moses.
So, if the Jews add commands that look stupid or take away commands that should be there, other nations will draw two conclusions: God’s laws are stupid, and God is not so close after all – His Love is nothing special. Is a rule about washing your hands before you eat a bad rule? What do you think your mother would say? But! Why is washing your hands a good thing? Because it prevents physical disease. That’s where Jesus has a problem – the Pharisees are trying to act like good hygiene is equal to holiness! Cleanliness is next to godliness? Next to, maybe… but it is not equal to godliness and that’s the problem.
God is God and His commandments are about godly things, spiritual things… holiness. He is the all-powerful, transcendent, all-loving, creator of everything, and the ultimate goal of existence is to worship Him. He’s got some big priorities and His motivations are beyond what we can imagine. When someone comes along and says, the all-powerful, all-wise God is really worried about how you wash your hands, it raises some questions… especially if the person saying it is notorious for stealing, lying, killing, or lustful behavior. So, you can see how Jesus sees and hears the Pharisees doing just that and says “wait just a minute! Quit trashing my Father’s reputation, our reputation!”
The second problem Jesus has with the hand washing is the hidden assumption, the lie underneath it. This is the lie that evil… sin… spiritual uncleanness can come from the outside like a virus. It is a clever way of distancing yourself from admitting your faults. If evil comes from people I touch out there, then I can just wash it off and go about my business in a blissful ignorance of the fact that I might just be the biggest source of evil in my own life… and the lives of others.
No, “nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Evil comes from your free will when you use it to disobey God’s real commandments. Now, it is at this point that many people get caught in an altogether different lie – that faith in God can be a purely spiritual, non-physical thing. “Spiritual, but not religious.” “Religion” is not a system, it is the virtue of giving due honor to God – it is your spiritual beliefs in practice. Christ shows that our faith, or lack thereof, directly affects our actions. Evil comes out of person’s heart, and what does that evil look like? “Evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” Most of those involve practical activity and are even very physical.
If it’s true that evil and defiling start inside, but move outward, the same is true for goodness and holiness. This is where James comes in to remind us bluntly to be “doers of the word and not hearers only.” Then he tells us straight up what pure religion, true religion looks like: “care for orphans and widows” and keeping “oneself unstained by the world.”
That “unstained” part might actually give us some sympathy for the Pharisees. Their oral tradition started as a way of expressing the desire for every part of life to connect to the worship of God and their desire for being “unstained by the world,” in every part of life. It was probably sincere at first. Yet, because it was so external and a little arbitrary, it changed over time from being a sign of piety to being a requirement for social acceptance. It became superficial and by the time of Jesus, it had lost all its inner meaning. Not only that, but it became a substitute for the inner reality of the faith, an excuse to not look deeper.
What of ourselves? The 10 commandments still stand. We also have the Church, who was founded by Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit. Whenever she officially teaches something on faith and morals; that is a command of God. But do we let our own little human traditions, our “modern ideas” blind us to this truth? Where is our hypocrisy?
Perhaps when we post prayers and gratitude to God on Facebook and Instagram, but then they’re right next to our posts fawning over Fifty Shades of Grey or the Sport’s Illustrated swimsuit edition? How about pro-life and pro-family bumper stickers, online posts, and billboards? Is that a reflection of a real willingness to help a poor unwed mother – to open our hearts, homes, and schedules to those in need? Are we trying help the parish with marriage prep and NFP classes?
What habits do we have that hide dangerous assumptions? It is good to put money in the collection basket, but that does not excuse us from really participating in the parish community, in their ministries and apostolates. The occasional check to a local charity is not an excuse avoid dealing with the poor in person. Do we keep God in His place – one hour a week on Sundays? Where is he Friday and Saturday night? What does he mean to us on the football field, in the break room at work, or when our family members prefer the internet to a family meal?
These are not idle questions, and they’re not even private questions, not anymore. Baptism made you part of a body and you’re here at Mass – you belong to God’s people, the Church. What you do doesn’t just reflect on you. Like it or not, being Catholic means representing God to the world. Jesus was pretty patient with the ignorant and to outsiders who were curious about him. Not so much when it came to those who called themselves Jewish, but didn’t live it. If he was that serious about the incomplete, old covenant; that harsh toward the old hypocrites, how do you think he’ll respond to those who have the fullness of Truth, to the new hypocrites?
After all, it is His reputation on the line – evangelization starts with our integrity. Pope Francis’ love of the poor has shown us how living our faith can be attractive even when the world misunderstands what he actually teaches – what about you and me? I know I dread the idea of hearing my Creator, Lord, and Savior quote those dreadful words from Isaiah: “their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me.”