22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (“B”)
Q. 543: So what is wrong with a good hand washing before meals? It makes sense; why would Jesus object to the practice (Mark 7:1-23)? (Return to INDEX page of "Didja Know?" series)
August 30, 2009
A. 543: I’m sure that everyone has been in a room or an elevator with a group of people, and one person is reeking powerfully from old-fashioned B.O. Sometimes it can be downright awful or disgusting, and challenge your ability to keep an expressionless face. As soon as you can do so without embarrassing the other person, you find an excuse to move to another location. It isn’t easy to find a way to tell a friend (or even a stranger) that they really stink, or that they need to try a new deodorant. Over the years, most people have developed the defensive habit of hiding such potential embarrassments, by disguising their problem through the use of a deodorant once or twice a day.
The Israelites had also developed a defensive habit or custom, one not required by the written Torah or Mosaic law. The cultic priests received their portion of food from the sacrificial offerings at the Temple. So to avoid offending God and to stay ritually pure, these priests had a defensive water ritual of cleansing the hands and forearms, to avoid any possibility of appearing awful or disgusting before the presence of God in the Temple. Soon the people simply copied what the priests were doing, urged on by oral teachings that in due course became part of the human tradition perpetuated by the scribes and Pharisees.
The problem Jesus confronted arose because this human tradition had come to be viewed as a mandate from God, which was not true. No longer was the cleansing or washing action related to its original purpose as a desire to avoid being insensitive to God’s presence. It had become just a rigid practice to follow. Jesus refused to follow a set of rules that were aimed a judging others and which became a source of class division (i.e., clean rich vs. unclean poor).
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! The novel interpretation by Jesus of some of the details of the oral law regarding purity were seen as religious crimes by those rigidly adhering to human rather than divine traditions (CCC #574). Jesus disavowed such human traditions by his own divine authority (CCC #581).
Deacon Paul Rooney
Mary Our Queen Parish, Omaha
(Go back to Deacon Paul's HOME PAGE)
