Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
THERE IS A TENSION IN EVERY RELIGION – THERE ARE TRUTHS TO BE BELIEVED, AND A SET OF BEHAVIORS TO BE FOLLOWED OR AVOIDED. WE READ EVERY DAY ABOUT THE STRUGGLES IN EUROPE WHERE THE MUSLIM MINORITY INSISTS THAT THEIR WOMEN WEAR HEAD COVERINGS AND SOMETIMES TOTAL BODY COVERINGS IN PUBLIC; AND IN FRANCE, AT LEAST, THIS IS AGAINST THE LAW, CONSIDERED AN OFFENSE AGAINST THE WHOLE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY. WE CHRISTIANS HAVE LONG BEEN OF THE OPINION, AND WE CAN SUPPORT IT BY OUR NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS, THAT IF YOU ARE AN ORTHODOX JEW, YOU ARE MIRED IN LAW, EVERY WHERE YOU TURN, THERE IS A LAW THAT YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW; AND JESUS CAME TO OVERTHROW THAT LAW. BUT THEN OUR PROTESTANT NEIGHBORS LOOK AT US CATHOLICS AND SEE THE SAME THING, AT LEAST IN TERMS OF OFFICIAL TEACHINGS; THEY SEE OUR CHURCH AS A CHURCH OF LAW, WHILE THEIRS IS ALL ABOUT FAITH.
AND AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE MANY BOTH IN AND OUT OF OUR CHURCH, WHO FEEL THAT WHAT YOU BELIEVE ISN'T NEARLY AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT YOU DO, AND ALONG WITH THIS GOES THE NOTION THAT IF YOUR BEHAVIOR DOESN'T HURT ANYONE, DOESN'T SCANDALIZE ANYONE, THEN IT CAN'T BE SINFUL; IN OTHER WORDS, THERE IS NO REAL LAW TO FOLLOW. FAITH IS WHAT MATTERS, DEEDS ARE MEANINGLESS.
AND I SAY THAT THIS IS A TENSION, AND EVERY RELIGION HAS TO ADDRESS IT. IS IT WHAT WE THINK? OR IS IT WHAT WE DO? AND TODAY'S READINGS HIGHLIGHT THIS TENSION AGAIN. IN THE FIRST READING, MOSES PROUDLY POINTS TO THE STATUTES AND DECREES THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE AS A SIGN OF THEIR GREATNESS, OF THEIR CLOSENESS TO GOD. IN THE PSALM IT IS ABOUT DOING JUSTICE, ABOUT AVOIDING HARM TO ONE'S FELLOW MAN. IN THE EPISTLE, WE ARE TOLD THAT RELIGION IS TO CARE FOR ORPHANS AND WIDOWS, AND TO KEEP ONESELF UNSTAINED BY THE WORLD. AND IN THE GOSPEL, JESUS CONDEMNS THE PHARISEES BECAUSE THEY HAVE IMPLIED THAT IT IS ONE'S BEHAVIOR THAT MATTERS, WHILE JESUS SAYS IT IS ONE'S INNER DISPOSITION, FROM WHICH BEHAVIOR FLOWS.
A FEW YEARS AGO I WAS APPROACHED BY A PARISHIONER WHO WANTED ME TO TELL A YOUNG MAN THAT HE SHOULD REMOVE HIS HAT IN CHURCH. I HAD SEEN THIS YOUNG MAN IN CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY, WEARING SHORTS, TENNIS SHOES, A SLEEVELESS T-SHIRT, AND YES, A BASEBALL CAP TURNED AROUND WITH THE BRIM ON THE BACK. MY REACTION HAD NOT BEEN THAT HE WAS INAPPROPRIATELY DRESSED; I WAS HAPPY TO SEE SOMEONE OF HIS AGE WHO TOOK HIS SUNDAY OBLIGATION SERIOUSLY ENOUGH TO COME, UNLIKE THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR TEENAGE CATHOLICS. BUT I DID APPROACH HIM AND VERY QUIETLY AND DISCRETELY SUGGESTED THAT HE SHOULD TAKE HIS CAP OFF IN MASS. I NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN. I HOPE HE CONTINUED TO GO TO MASS SOMEWHERE ELSE, PERHAPS WHERE THE PARISHIONERS ARE MORE ACCEPTING, AND THE DEACON HAD THOUGHT MORE SERIOUSLY ABOUT TODAY'S GOSPEL.
SO WHAT IS IT? WHAT WE DO, OR WHAT WE BELIEVE? IS IT FAITH OR IS IT THE LAW? DO RULES AND RITUALS AND CUSTOMS MATTER? OR IS ALL THAT IS IMPORTANT IS HOW WE ACT?
I THINK THERE IS AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. IN MY LIFE, IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO USE THE LAWS WE ARE GIVEN BY OUR FAITH TO FORM MY INMOST SELF, SO THAT WHAT COMES OUT OF ME, WHAT ACTIONS I PERFORM, ARE CONSISTENT WITH THOSE RULES; AND AT THE SAME TIME, TO EXAMINE MY ACTIONS, SO THAT I CAN MORE PERFECTLY FORM THE CONSCIENCE BEHIND THE ACTIONS. I CAN BE THE GREATEST THEOLOGIAN IN THE WORLD, BUT IF IT REMAINS IN MY HEAD, I'M IN BIG TROUBLE. I CAN SPEND MY LIFE SERVING THE POOREST OF THE POOR, BUT IF THIS SERVICE IS NOT GROUNDED IN LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOR, IN OTHER WORDS, IN THE COMMANDMENTS, I MIGHT AS WELL NOT BOTHER. THE IDEA IS TO MOVE FROM ACTION TO CONTEMPLATION, FROM CONTEMPLATION TO REVELATION, AND THEN BACK TO ACTION. AND IF WE MANAGE TO MAKE THIS A HABIT, WE HAVE RESOLVED IN OURSELVES THE TENSION IN OUR RELIGION.
THERE IS ANOTHER PART TO ALL OF THIS. THE PHARISEES WE MEET TODAY PERHAPS CAN BE GIVEN THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. TO THEM, THE HOLIER YOU ARE, THE BETTER YOU KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. HERE IS JESUS PREACHING A MESSAGE IN WHICH HE IS CALLING PEOPLE TO HOLINESS, AND YET, THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM ARE NOT DEMONSTRATING HOLINESS. TO THE PHARISEES, AND TO MODERN ORTHODOX JEWS, KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS, ALL 613 OF THEM, IS A SIGN OF YOUR INWARD DISPOSITION, OF YOUR DESIRE TO PLEASE GOD. AND THAT WAS THE POINT OF THE QUESTION OF THE PHARISEES. AND YOU AND I ARE LIKE THAT. WE ARE ALWAYS JUDGING, AND THE ONLY WAY WE CAN JUDGE IS BY LOOKING AT THE BEHAVIOR OF ANOTHER PERSON. WE DON'T KNOW THE MOTIVES BEHIND THE BEHAVIOR; WE DON'T SEE OUR NEIGHBOR'S HEART. BUT WE STILL JUDGE, WE STILL DECIDE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING IRREVERENT ABOUT A YOUNG MAN WEARING A HAT IN CHURCH. BUT LOOK AT THE EVILS THAT JESUS LISTS THAT COME FROM WITHIN AND DEFILE. IF YOU WERE TO MEET SOMEONE TODAY, EVEN SOMEONE SITTING NEXT TO YOU IN CHURCH, YOU WOULD HAVE NO WAY OF TELLING WHETHER THAT PERSON WAS GUILTY OF ANY OF THESE EVILS. IF HE OR SHE IS WELL DRESSED, APPEARS PIOUS AND ATTENTIVE, YOU WILL PROBABLY FORM THE JUDGMENT THAT THIS IS A GOOD PERSON. AND HOW WRONG YOU WOULD BE. I THINK THAT IS PART OF JESUS' MESSAGE TODAY – WHEN WE FORM JUDGMENTS, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD, ABOUT ANOTHER PERSON, WE ARE USUALLY WRONG, AND EVEN IF WE ARE RIGHT, WE ARE NOT QUITE RIGHT. AND YET, ONCE WE FORM A JUDGMENT THAT CRYSTALLIZES OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THAT PERSON. WE NO LONGER TRY TO KNOW THE REAL PERSON, BUT WE STOP SHORT OF FORMING AN AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE WE HAVE JUDGED AND DRAWN OUR CONCLUSIONS. A MARRIED COUPLE WHO REMAIN MARRIED FOR 50 YEARS KNOWS THAT THE JUDGMENTS FORMED BACK WHEN THEY FIRST MET ARE ENTIRELY WRONG, AND MUST BE GOTTEN OUT OF THE WAY TO FORM AN AUTHENTIC LOVING RELATIONSHIP. HOW TRUE THAT MUST BE FOR ALL RELATIONSHIPS. AND THAT IS WHY THE PHARISEES ARE HYPOCRITES. THEY HAVE JUDGED, THEY HAVE OBJECTIFIED, THEY HAVE THROWN UP A BARRIER SO THAT THEY DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW, REALLY KNOW, A PERSON.
SO MAYBE TODAY'S READINGS CAN BE SUMMED UP BY CALLING TO MIND A SAYING OF JESUS. “BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE SPLINTER FROM YOUR NEIGHBOR'S EYE, GET THE TWO-BY-FOUR OUT OF YOUR OWN EYE.” OUR GOAL IS TO FORM OURSELVES INTO CHRISTIANS, INTO CHRIST-LIKE PEOPLE, AND TO PUT NO BARRIERS IN FRONT OF OTHERS.