22^nd Sunday in O.T.  (B); August 31-September 1, 2024

Dt. 4:1-2,6-8.  Ps 15.  Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27.  Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Deacon Jim McFadden

       In the beginning of my teaching career, I worked with a dear colleague, a consecrated religious sister who had a huge sign that went from end of the classroom to the other.  As one entered her classroom, you were greeted with the question: “If  you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” That question really stuck with me because 35 years later, I still think about it and I wonder whether I’d be convicted?

            In today’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus addresses this important topic: what makes an authentic Christian?   The narrative opens with a dispute between Jesus and several Pharisees and scribes who are accusing the disciples of Jesus of failing to observe the ritual precepts according to tradition   By going after his followers, they are really seeking to undermine the reliability and authority of Jesus as Teacher because they say: “But this teacher allows his disciples to evade the prescriptions of tradition” (Mk 7:5).

            This does raise a sticky-wicket question: why do Jesus and his disciples disregard these traditions?  After all, they are not bad things, but a good habit of simply washing your hands before eating.  What could be wrong with that?  Why isn’t Jesus  concerned with this simple tradition?  Because for him it is important to bring faith back to its center.  There is always a risk to identify religious practice with faith itself; while the former should proceed from the latter, they’re not the same.  There is always the risk of observing outward formalities, while putting the heart and faith in the background. Jesus is urging us to avoid the danger of giving more importance to the form of religious appearance rather than the substance of faith that is grounded in love of God, love of neighbor, and harmony with creation.  Genuine religion binds us to all three.  Jesus wants to purify religious practice of the hypocrisy of legalism and ritualism.  Put simply, Jesus does not want outward appearances, but he wants a faith that touches the heart, which we hear in his response to the elders: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me in their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts” (vs. 6-7). 

            Following this confrontation, immediately afterwards, he calls the people back and not the elders to speak a great truth: “there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him” (v. 15).  Rather, it is “from within, out of the heart” (v. 21) that evil things are born.  These words are revolutionary for their time, because in the cultural and historical circumstances of Jesus’ time, it was thought that certain foods or external contacts would make one impure.  Jesus reverses this perspective: it is not what comes from the outside that is harmful, but rather what is born from within.

            Brothers and sisters, this also pertains to us.  We often think that evil comes mainly from the outside: from other people’s conduct, from those who don’t look like me or think like us.  We often blame others, political and social circumstances, for everything that happens to us.  If I am fearful, have a profound sense of resentment because my life has not gone well, we project our interior dysfunction upon others.  If my life is a mess, it’s not my fault but the fault of other people, or those who govern: they are my problem.  People of God, other people are not our problem: we are our problem!  If we spend time assigning blame to others, we are wasting time.  We become angry, resentful, and we seek vengeance on those whom we believe are out to get us.  But as we fall into this rabbit-hole of bitterness, we keep God away from our heart.  Like those people in the Gospel, who complain, who are scandalized by others, who cause controversy and dissension, they do not welcome Jesus.  One cannot be a person of true religious faith while complaining, looking for scapegoats because complaining poisons our heart.  It leads to anger, to resentment, and to sadness; it closes the door to God. 

            Let us ask the Lord for the grace to free us from the blame-game.  Let us ask for the grace not to waste time polluting the world with complaints, which is not Christian.  Instead, Jesus invites us to look at life and the world starting from our heart.  When we look inside of ourselves, we will find almost all that we despise outside.  That’s why so many of us engage in projection.  But, if we ask God with sincerity and contrition to purify our heart, then we can begin the process of making the world a little bit better.  To the point, there is an infallible way to defeat evil: by starting to conquer it within yourself.  Learning to name our interior disorder, understanding why it has power over us, and to resolve to amend our life through the grace of God.  This is true wisdom:  learning to blame ourselves rather than others. 

            May the Virgin Mary, who changed the course of history through the purity of her heart, help us to purify our own, by overcoming the vice of blaming others and complaining about everything.  Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. “If  you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Your response?
2. Does your religious practice flow from your center: faith in Jesus?
3. Have you been influenced by the “blame-game”?  How do you deal with that in faith-filled way?