Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, August 29, 2021
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Responsorial Psalm:Psalm 15:2-5
Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
In the Gospel today, the Pharisees and some Scribes approached asked Jesus and challenged Him about His disciples not respecting the tradition of the elders. Who are the Pharisees and the Scribes? The Hebrew word that we translate as Pharisee is perushim which literally means the ‘separate ones.’ The pharisees were a movement within Judaism that was characterized by a rigorous and precise observance of the Torah. The name Pharisee was originally coined by their opponents who used the word in a derogatory way because of the way they segregated themselves from others. The Pharisees adopted the word and gave it a positive spin. They lived their lives strictly according to the Torah and distanced themselves from anyone who did not observe the Torah as rigorously and as precisely as they did. The Scribes (in Hebrew, soferim) were Torah scholars. They were also learned teachers of the law and guardians of the tradition.
They asked Jesus, ‘why do your disciples not respect the tradition (paradosis- what is handed on) of the elders but eat with unclean hands?’ keep in mind that this is not a question of hygiene but a question of ritual purity. And they refer to the tradition of the elders. What does it mean? Hand washing was not a biblical requirement for lay people. In the Old Testament, only priests were required to wash their hands before offering a sacrifice according to the Book of Exodus and Leviticus. However, the tradition that the Pharisees followed extended the requirement to everyone. For the Pharisees, everyone should live as a priest and every Jewish home should become a temple. It is this tradition that forms the basis of this challenge.
So, what is this thing called tradition? Hebrew Scriptures is what we have as our Old Testament. It was originally a collection of scrolls. There were three boxes of scrolls. The first contained five scrolls and is called the Torah i.e. the teachings of Moses. The second had eight scrolls called Nevi’im or the Book of the prophets; then we have the third box which had eleven scrolls and is called Ketuvim which translates writings and includes the Psalms and Wisdom literature. Later on, the scrolls were gathered into a single work and called TANAKH. The Torah which also translates law consists of five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. There are six hundred and thirteen commandments in the Torah; three hundred and sixty-five are prohibitions where as two hundred and forty-eight are prescriptions.
In spite of these so many, a lot remained vague. This is where tradition of the elders comes in. they are regulations that are not to be found in the Scriptures but are practical guidelines for putting the Torah into practice in daily life. They were passed on by word of mouth until they were eventually written down around 200AD and known as the Mishnah. The Mishna is a collection of rulings about matters of the practice of law, customs and rituals. There is also the Talmud which consists of the Mishnah with commentaries.
So, the Pharisees and the Scribes asked Jesus, ‘why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat with unclean hands?’ The response of Jesus is a radical overthrow of the entire purity system that emphasizes and prioritizes the external purity over the internal. We can’t imagine the shock with which the Pharisees and the Scribes would have received this, yet, it is unimpeachable. Jesus said, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written; this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” Some, have based on this response of Jesus to criticize the Catholic position on tradition. The key to understanding what Jesus is hitting at is “neglecting God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” What Jesus is condemning are traditions that subvert the very values that the law seeks to enshrine, regulations that do not promote love of God and neighbor but undermine the commandments of God. And He gives example with the corban. Corban means ‘dedicated to God.’ It is a tradition among some Pharisees to declare their possession as corban in order to avoid taking care of their parents which is a violation of the third commandment; honor your father and your mother.
Jesus rejects traditions that reduce the life of faith to a joyless and sterile legalism. When this happens, we become hypocrites. Our English word hypocrite comes from the Greek hupokrisis which means an actor. In Greek drama, actors wear masks so that by way of analogy, a hypocrite is one who wears mask, pretending to be somebody or something he or she is not. When this happens in religion, the religion we practice becomes lip service while our hearts are far from God. Jesus repeats the accusations of Isaiah to His contemporaries. This accusation can just be as true for us today. Our worship and all we do as disciples of Jesus must be an expression of our sincere love for God and not as substitute for it.
In Matthew 23: 2-3, Jesus said to the crowds, “The Scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” Jesus did not reject the tradition of the elders but those that subvert the very values the law seeks to enshrine. Writing to the Thessalonians, St Paul said, “stand firm and hold to the traditions (paradosis) which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2Thessalonians 2:15). We have traditions handed down by the apostles of Jesus. So, how are we to know the traditions that are apostolic i.e, handed on by the apostles? We can only be sure of this through the living and teaching authority of the Church which Paul himself called pillar and foundation of truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
Jesus turned upside down the old purity system when He said, “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.” So, how can our worship be pure and overcome the charge of paying lip service? St James tells us in the second reading, “Be doers of the word and hot hearers only, deluding yourselves.”
Happy Sunday
Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka MSSCC