HUNGER FOR THE WORD
Jesus turns the table on His accusers by
scolding them for their uncleanness of heart. Which is more important to God,
clean hands and body or a clean mind and heart? The scribes and Pharisees
accused Jesus' disciples of breaking their ritual traditions. Jesus deals with
accusation by going to the heart of the matter - by looking at God's intention
and purpose for the Commandments. Jesus explains that they void God's command
with their own traditions. He accuses them specifically of two things; first,
of hypocrisy. Like actors who put on a show, they appear to obey God's Word in
their external practices while they inwardly harbor sinful desires and
intentions. Secondly, He accuses them of abandoning God's Word by substituting
their own arguments and ingenious interpretations for what God requires. They
listen to clever arguments rather than to the Word of God.
Doesn't this all sound like the things
we hear and see in our media, newspaper, TV programs, government, and so on?
Jesus refers them to the prophecy of Isaiah where the prophet accuses the
people of honoring God with their lips while their hearts were far away from
choosing and doing what God asked of them (cf. Is 29:13). God's Word enlightens
the mind and purifies the heart that one may understand His ways and intentions
and walk in true love. Do we hunger for
the Word of God and seek to purify our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit?
Where does the ill-will in us spring
from, and what's the solution for eliminating it from our lives? Jesus deals
with this issue in response to the religious leaders' concern with ritual
defilement - making oneself unfit to offer sacrifice and worship to God. Some
of their concern was no doubt out of fear of God. For others it was a concern
about pleasing other people. Jesus points His listeners to the source of true
defilement, which comes from inside one's innermost being. Sin does not just
happen. It first springs from the interior recesses of our thoughts and
intentions; from the secret desires that only the individual soul can conceive.
God, in His mercy, sent His only Son to
save us from our sin and weakness. But to receive His mercy we must admit our
faults. "If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just, and
will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing" (1 Jn 1:8 -
9). Only God can change our hearts and
make them clean and whole through His power and forgiveness. Like a physician
who probes the wound before treating it, God through His Word and Spirit first
brings it to light that we may recognize it for what it is and call upon his
mercy and grace for pardon and healing. It is then that we are given true
peace. The Spirit of truth is the Consoler. The Spirit gifts us with the truth
of conscience and of the certainty of redemption in Jesus Christ.
When Cain was jealous of his brother,
Abel, God warned him to guard his heart, "Sin is couching at the door; its
desire is for you, but you must master it" (Gen 4:7). Do we get those
desires from time to time; are they at our door? We do not need to entertain any sinful
desires or thoughts, but instead, through the grace of God, we can choose to
put them to death rather than allow them to have control over us. Jesus wants
to change and purify our hearts, our hands, and our bodies. He wants to dwell
within us. His grace enables us to
choose what is good in our life. All we need to do is believe in the loving
power of God's love to change and transform our hearts.
In today's Second Reading from St.
James' Letter we read that "every perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of lights..." (Jas 1:17). He gives us, His people, this
challenge, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only..." (Jas 1:22).
Deacon John
Ruscheinsky