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Ordinary 22
September 2, 2012

Tradition: Guide or Jailer?
by Paul Rooney

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

The Law of Moses did forbid all marriages with the pagan Canaanites; but it did not go beyond that. However, a few centuries later, Ezra the Jewish scribe and priest broadened the prohibition against interfaith marriages to extend it to weddings between Jews and all non-Jews. Later rabbis simply carried on that new tradition.

The “Fiddler on the Roof” story showed that religious traditions of the elders seemed to be more important to Tevye than the biblical commands to love and forgive his daughter. Tevye was culturally trapped in the rabbinical tradition. And that was precisely the tragedy of his story.

It is also the tragedy of our Gospel story today. The Pharisees were following through with the man-made traditions, such as precisely “how to wash” their food, their hands, their pots and pans, and so forth. They were quite good at keeping these so-called “purity laws.”

It reached the point where they couldn't even shake hands or touch a non-Jew outside the Temple, because then they would become “impure” and could not go into the Temple. (If you recall the Good Samaritan story, that was the reason that the Jewish Priest and the Levite passed by without helping the injured traveler; they were on the way to the Temple and could not risk becoming ritually impure.)

There is no evidence that Jesus ever violated the Jewish purity laws. But he looked beyond the well-intended habits of the Pharisees, and pointed out what was wrong: they were clinging to these human traditions, while violating the divine commandments. Jesus even quoted the Prophet Isaiah to back up his accusation.

One could also consider it a tragedy of sorts to see folks who worry about whether we as Catholics should follow certain traditions, but then those same folks pay little attention to Jesus' call to us to live the Gospel. Not that those folks are wrong in following longstanding pious practices; it is simply that those external things are not the essentials of true worship.

The last verse of the Second Reading today from St. James sums it up well. It is only through acts of love that one can demonstrate “a religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father” (v.27). And that means reaching out to those in need. We are called to practice the 14 spiritual and corporal works of mercy. (If you don't remember what they are, today is a good time to do some research – perhaps as a family project.) If we don't reach out, then we are in the same group that Jesus calls “hypocrites” in the gospel. They worried about the externals and forgot about the essentials.

Jesus calls us today to be honest with our self-evaluation. What counts is cleansing our heart, not our hands. What counts is whether our prayers of love and devotion are backed up with concrete action on behalf of the "least among us". We approach the Eucharist today, trusting that we will receive the wisdom and courage to help those we encounter who are in physical or spiritual need.

(Comments to Paul at deaconpaul@cox.net.)