Today’s Gospel Text:
Now
when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had
come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his
disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the
Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the
elders; 4 and when they come from the
market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many
other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels
of bronze.) 5 And the Pharisees and the
scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the
tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" 6 And he said to them, "Well
did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me
with their lips,
but
their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines
the precepts of men.' 8 You leave the commandment of
God, and hold fast the tradition of men." 9 And he said to them, "You
have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your
tradition! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your
father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him
surely die'; 11 but you say, 'If a man tells
his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that
is, given to God) - 12 then you no longer permit him
to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of
God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you
do." Mark 7:1-13
Reflection: At
the time of Jesus religion was no science nor was there any talk of science and yet the Pharisees and all the Jews
would not eat unless they first washed their hands. (vs. 3)
The
Pharisees and Scribes even considered it an offence to not to eat with clean
hands. In this they purely went by the demands of the law.
There
was definitely no science in their minds when they were insistent on the need
for clean hands but there was definitely a religious reason for it.
If they had known the modern scientific reason, what would happen? Perhaps it
would have made them more fanatics at admonishing Jesus and boasting about
their religion being scientific too.
How
about seriously looking at the situation from a pure scientific point of view?
Jesus
would have again stood condemned; for the evidence of science too, which is our
modern religion in which everyone is well schooled in, would condemn Jesus.
Who
in our age, educated in our modern scientific culture, doesn't know that if we
do not eat with clean hand we are ingesting all kinds of bacteria's and germs?
Yet
the dog on the street who knows no science and the animal in the stable survive
the onslaughts of all kind of bacteria’s, whereas we as human’s tend to fall
sick at the slightest hint of it.
What
is more, the disciples of Jesus too seem to fit in with the category of the
animals, when it came to bacteria's and germs. They had their meal without the washing
of their hands in sharp contrast to the normal Jewish way of life.
To
follow Jesus means to go contrary to the laws of science in many matters. It
means to rise above the gravitational or earthly pulls of life. It shows us the
power of his message to save and lift us up from the earthly things that bind
us and hold us to bondage and slavery, into the freedom that comes through his
saving action.
The
greatest freedom that Jesus gives us is not freedom from disease but the
freedom to face the onslaught of it without fear or trepidation because he is
above the earthly laws, that hold us in bondage, and he will lead us to eternity.
Prayer: Lord,
help me to trust in your salvation; your saving grace!
DD = Dedicated
Discipleship: Come grow
in the Lord with us
