Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 8, 2022 - Tuesday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 and Mark 7:1-13]"You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition.....How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!.......You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on." [Mark]
The festering conflict between Jesus and the Jewish religious authorities (scribes and Pharisees) comes out into the open in a dramatic way in today's gospel scripture. Jesus lashes out at the whining accusation that Jesus' disciples don't follow "the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands." There are two aspects of this encounter that I think merit our attention.
First, Jesus lashes out at the corruption that has poisoned the "system" of interpretation employed by many scribes and Pharisees in such a way that they were using the law to benefit themselves. He quotes from Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts." In short, Jesus attacks their hypocrisy.
But there remains the question about "teaching as doctrines human precepts." We Americans tend to see all laws as equal in force. It is a cultural characteristic. We American Catholics bring that cultural characteristic into our understanding of Catholic laws, traditions and customs. This is particularly true in matters of worship, especially the sacraments. Sincere Catholics can get caught up in liturgical details which, if not meticulously followed, lead them to believe that a particular ceremony is "invalid!" (This is at the root of Pope Francis' recent document restricting the use of the pre-Vatican II missal for the celebration of the Eucharist. )
God cannot be controlled by human rules and regulations. What is important is that we be faithful to what Jesus has taught us and the apostles have handed down to us. Yes, there are boundaries so that a community can rely on a way of life. Yes, some traditions have endured even though they developed long after Jesus' death and resurrection. But their variety is endless. We must be careful not to turn God into an Emily Post of liturgical or ecclesiastical etiquette. St. Thomas Aquinas warns us about overregulating life "lest the people lose heart." Jesus' warnings to the scribes and Pharisees should be taken to heart in our own time. AMEN