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 were 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 fellow men and women to
truly respect and follow us we should not be imposing, we should not be dictators.
Because if we are imposing and dictatorial 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.
Do you live the gentleness and compassion
of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
