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 compassionate, emphatic and an exceptional 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) sacrificed 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 others 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
