Homily (Reflection) for the Twenty-Second
Sunday of the Year (B) (02nd September, 2018) on the Gospel
Deut 4:1-2.6-8;
Ps 14:2-5 (R. V. 1);
Jas
1:17-18.21-22.27;Mk 7:1-8.14-15.21-23.
One woman normally
spins bitter leaves around her head while preparing bitter leave soup before putting
them into the pot. After observing her with keen interest for some time, her
children enquired why she does that and she told them that it prevents the leaves
from making the soup bitter. They took that as a dogma based on the source of
the information and that it has survived many generations. The children began
to doubt the veracity of the ritual when she refused to prepare soup with bitter
leaves that were not prepared. According to her, the ritual could only work
after the leaves have been prepared at least a little. One day however the
woman as she struggled to finish cooking on time used bitter leaves that were
poorly prepared after observing the normal rituals. Unfortunately the soup turned
out to be as bitter as whatever one can think of. Her children wondered and asked
their mother why the ritual did not work. She told them that the preparation of
the bitter leaves did not meet the required standard for the tradition work. Hum!
Topic: Traditions – God’s and the
Elders.
The New Webster’s Dictionary of the
English Language (2000), defines tradition as “a cultural continuity
transmitted in the form of social attitudes, beliefs, principles and
conventions of behaviour etc deriving from past experiences and helping to
shape the present” (p. 1046). Based on this, one cannot say that every
tradition is bad. But in some cultures today, human traditions are generally
seen as opposing to God’s commandments.
Among the Jews, tradition includes the following:
...never eat without washing their arms as far
as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without
first sprinkling [bathing] themselves. There are also many other observances
which have been handed down to them to keep, concerning the washing of cups and
pots and bronze dishes (Mk 7:3-4, TNJB).
Could it be that Jesus is against these – washing of arms, and
bathing before eating, washing cups, pots, and bronze dishes? In the gospel
according to Saint Luke when the people were surprised that He did not first
wash His hands He said:
Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup
and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools!
Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms
those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you (Lk 11:39-41).
And in today’s gospel we also read: “You abandon the commandment
of God and hold to human tradition” (Mk
7:8). Christians ought to live according to the commandments of God because
we are new creatures in Christ, cf. 2Cor
5:17. This implies dying to sin, cf. Rom
6:11; 8:1. We are to be saved by living our lives as Christians not
according to the human traditions. Saint Paul writes:
yet we know that a person is justified not by
the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to
believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and
not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the
works of law. But if, in our effort to
be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ
then a servant of sin? Certainly not! (Gal
2:16-17).
Saint Paul also warns in his letter to the Colossians: “See to it
that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not
according to Christ” (Col 2:8).
There is a story of a visitor who “was being shown around [during
Communist times] by a party official. The visitor said, ‘Are you Catholic?’ and
the official answered, ‘believing, but not practising.’ The visitor later
asked, ‘Are you a communist?’ The official smiled and said, ‘Practising, but
not believing’” (Fuller, G. (2010). Stories for all seasons. Mumbai: St
Pauls, pp. 90-91). Christians ought to assess every human tradition with God’s and
not the other way round as we see in many communities today. Just like the
party official who took the visitor around, some Christians today believe in
paganism but are not practicing it and others practice Christianity but do not
believe in it. And many more are pagans both in belief and in practice yet they
parade themselves Christians.
Like the woman in our introduction, many never question anything
that is said to have been received from the elders. Joseph Addison rightly
points out that “Tradition is an important help to history, but its statements
should be carefully scrutinized before we rely on them” (The New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, p. QD-92). Every tradition must be
subjected to the scrutiny of God’s commandments and whichever one that falls
short must be dropped and those who do not oppose God’s commandments can be used
as means of evangelization.
Bible Reading: Matt 23: 1-36; Lk 11:37-52; Gal 2:11-14.
Thought for today:
What guides
you – God’s or man’s traditions?
Let us pray: Our Father in heaven, give us your
grace that will enable us follow wholeheartedly the dictates of your
commandments – Amen.
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