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Tuesday – Eighteenth Week – OT2
Readings: Jer 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Mt 15:1-2, 10-14.
Reading 1 (Jer 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22):
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:
Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.
For thus says the LORD:
Incurable is your wound,
grievous your bruise;
There is none to plead your cause,
no remedy for your running sore,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you.
I struck you as an enemy would strike,
punished you cruelly;
Why cry out over your wound?
your pain is without relief.
Because of your great guilt,
your numerous sins,
I have done this to you.
Thus says the LORD:
See! I will restore the tents of Jacob,
his dwellings I will pity;
City shall be rebuilt upon hill,
and palace restored as it was.
From them will resound songs of praise,
the laughter of happy men.
I will make them not few, but many;
they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.
His sons shall be as of old,
his assembly before me shall stand firm;
I will punish all his oppressors.
His leader shall be one of his own,
and his rulers shall come from his kin.
When I summon him, he shall approach me;
how else should one take the deadly risk
of approaching me? says the LORD.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
Gospel (Mt 15:1-2, 10-14):
RSV Matthew 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Fr. Anthony Dinh Minh Tien, O.P.
I. THEME: Clean hands or pure heart?
Eating and drinking in a way to protect health is the desire of most people. In the USA, there is a governmental organization, called USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) which has a duty to control all consumed food. If any food doesn’t meet their standard, they shall command the seller to destroy them because they are dangerous to public health. The Jews in general, and specially the ultra-Orthodox Jews are carefully to keep the Kashrut or Kosher law. This law describes which food can be consumed and which food can’t be. Moreover, this law also describes in detail how to prepare and to eat permitted food. Generally, this law is under a Rabbi’s provision.
Today readings emphasize on the dangers of inside sins than outside purity. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah advised the Israelites to recognize their sins against God and return to Him, instead of complaining about their sufferings. In the Gospel, when there were some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus and questioned him: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: “Why cry out over your wound? Your pain is without relief. Because of your great guilt, your numerous sins, I have done this to you.”
1.1/ God fathoms all the Israelites’ sins: Why did God heavily punish Israel? From the first few chapters of his book, the prophet Jeremiah nakedly displayed the sins of the Israelites in Judah.
Their most heavy sin is to forget about God; they didn’t remember Him anymore and followed their leaders to worship the foreign gods. The priests asked not, “Where is the Lord?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols” (Jer 2:8). If the leaders of the nation ignored God, there is no surprise when people also declared: “We have moved on, we will come to you no more” (Jer 2:31).
Their second sin is to kill the innocent. God continually sent His prophets to them to point out their sins and to call them to repent. They didn’t want to listen to them but also persecuted them, and even killed them. Jeremiah accused them, “Your sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion” (Jer 2:30). Moreover, they also used their power to maltreat the poor by taking away their houses and land, “You, on whose clothing there is the life-blood of the innocent, whom you found committing no burglary” (Jer 2:34).
1.2/ People only worshipped God by outside ceremonies: One of the reasons why they refuse to repent is because they didn’t recognize their sin, as they proudly declared, “I am innocent; at least, his anger is turned away from me” (Jer 2:33). Or they thought that no matter how big is their sin, it can be forgiven if they offer good sacrifice to God in the Jerusalem temple as described by the law.
The prophet Jeremiah corrected them about this wrong conception, “Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not, and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: “We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again”? Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I too see what is being done, says the Lord” (Jer 7:9-11).
However, God is still generous with the Israelites if they repent and return. He shall let them return to their country to re-establish it and to rebuild the temple. He shall punish their enemies and reconnect His former relationship with them and they shall be recovered.
2/ Gospel: The scribes and the Pharisees paid attention to physical cleanness; Jesus concerned about moral purity.
2.1/ The scribes and the Pharisees paid attention to clean hands: They questioned Jesus: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal?” The reason for their scolding is “the tradition of the elders.” This is from human tradition, not from God as the Ten Commandments.
Jesus’ explanation for his disciples is clearer in Mark’s Gospel which said: “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” Thus he declared all foods clean” (Mk 7:18-19).
2.2/ Jesus concerned about pure heart: The important question which Jesus wanted to raise is “What defiles people?” And he gave a clear answer: “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
Mark’s account listed all things which defile people: “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mk 7:21-23).
Jesus’ disciples confused because they are also the Jews and knew the importance of Kosher’s law, came to Jesus and said to him: ““Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides (of the blind). If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.”
One question is raised, “Did Jesus encourage people to eat with dirty hands?” It is certainly that he didn’t encourage it, but he wanted them to open their eyes to recognize that what is more important between the two: clean hands or pure heart. The Kosher law was made by human beings to keep food clean; it can’t keep the heart clean. God who fathoms all things in mind, values pure heart than clean hands.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– We should pay attention to clean hands, but a special attention to pure heart. When God judges us, He shall not judge according to what were outside, but what happened in our heart.
– We should try to foresee what shall happen to us if our leaders only pay attention to what are outside, and not the inside qualities. Jesus gave us the answer, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” We shouldn’t let such leaders to guide us.