November 7, 2011

Reflection (The readings are below, for your reference)

In case you might be thinking that Jesus is recommending against sensible hygienic practices that limit the spread of disease, he is not. The washing of the hands was a ritual of ceremonial purity. In this interchange, Jesus is suggesting that it’s possible to engage in empty ritual as a false refuge, while avoiding acts of true compassion and kindness, or worse, engaging in malevolent activities. For example, imagine tucking into a nice serving of Lobster Thermidor during a Lenten Friday lunch, while speaking rudely to the waiter. I recall an embarrassing episode in my own life when I was, through clenched teeth, reprimanding my young son during a church service, “You’d better behave right now, because I have to go receive communion!” I was forgot Jesus’s message of love and therefore managed to empty the Eucharist of its meaning. Perhaps the harshest cinematic depiction of this was the scene in The Godfather when several brutal murders take place in cross-cut simultaneity with the baptism of Connie’s baby.

Gracious loving God, may we bring compassion and sincerity to our actions, so that we become instruments of your love on earth.

Namaste

The Readings

Nehemiah 9:1-15

Revelation 18:1-8

Matthew 15:1-20

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that whoever tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God”, then that person need not honor the father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

“This people honors me with their lips,

   but their hearts are far from me;   

in vain do they worship me,

   teaching human precepts as doctrines.” ’

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’