Gospel: Mark 7:1-13
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had
come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his
disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the
Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their
hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things
that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and
kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your
disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with
unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
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. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order
to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to
father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban” (meaning,
dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.”
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Reflection:
Why is Jesus a revolutionary leader? Because
Jesus’ dares to violate established rules to benefit the people. For Jesus it’s
always the greater good of the people before the observance of any rules or
laws. Which by the way was created to serve the whims and caprices of the
ruling class (The Pharisees and scribes).
Jesus violates the rules created by the ruling
class because some were restrictive and oppressive. It makes the ordinary
people servants of the ruling class. Ruling class who are good only with
utterance of their laws but visibly wanting in human compassion. Truth to tell,
the ruling class (Pharisees and scribes) sacrifice human compassion in exchange
for the observance of their self-serving created laws.
Case in point is the washing of hands before
eating which was mentioned by the ruling class in the gospel. They asked Jesus:
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a
meal with unclean hands (Mark 7:5)?” Jesus answered them by simply pointing at
their hypocrisy, their lack of interior transformation and compassion toward
the ordinary people.
If we want our fellowmen to truly respect and
follow us we should not be imposing, we should not be dictators. Because if we
are like this our people will rebel against us, they may externally show their
respect towards us but it’s a respect devoid of substance and spirit.
Instead we should always live the gentleness and compassion of Jesus.
– Marino J. Dasmarinas
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