O.T.XXII [B] Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27;  Mk 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

William Barclay tells the story of an old Jewish rabbi in the Roman prison who was diagnosed with acute dehydration which would have led to his death.  The prison guards insisted that the rabbi was given his quota of drinking water.  So the prison doctor and the officer in charge instructed the guards to watch the rabbi and ascertain what he was doing with his ration of water.  They were shocked to find that the rabbi was using almost all his water for traditional ritual washing before prayer and meals.  Today’s gospel tells us how the tradition-addicted Pharisees started questioning Jesus when his disciples omitted the ritual washing of hands in public before a meal.

Today’s readings explain what true religion is. It is not simply a scrupulous, external observance of rules, laws, traditions and rituals. It is a loving, obedient relationship with God expressed in recognizing His presence in other human beings and rendering them loving and humble service.

Prayers, rituals, sacraments and religious practices in the Catholic Church are intended to help us to practice this true religion in our daily lives.

Why is religion so important? It is because it puts us in touch with a special revelation from God that we would not otherwise receive. The Jews believed that through their religion they could know the God who had freed them from slavery in Egypt and who had promised them life. God had given them the Law which instructed them how to remain free and not relapse into idolatry. They were proud that God had chosen them to show the rest of the world what a wonderful God they worshipped. “What great nation is there that has its gods as near as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon them’.

The Jews developed their purity laws as a way of guarding their faith, keeping certain boundaries so that that they were not just absorbed into the gentile world. Most religions develop traditions, which help them to interpret the basic commandments of their religion in the new situations which arise. There is always the danger that these religious traditions can gradually become more important than the basic commandments. Then religion becomes corrupt. The solution is not to get rid of religion but to purify it, so it plays its essential role of mediating God’s love and justice to us. And this is what Jesus is doing in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is not dismissing the externals of religion in favor of just an interior spiritual attitude. He is pointing to a danger which afflicts all religious people Jew and gentile, catholic and protestant. We can develop religious traditions, whether they are the meticulous details of eating regulations or the intricate instructions of liturgy, which take on a greater importance than the basic commandments of our religion.

Jesus describes true religion as serving God and all His children with a pure and holy heart.  God cares more about what happens on the inside of our lives than what happens on the outside: he wants our hearts. That's what he's trying to explain to the Pharisees, and to all his disciples, and to us. It is quite possible to appear perfectly Christian on the outside while being perfectly selfish on the inside. We can go to Mass regularly, avoid obviously lewd or sinful behavior in public, say prayers so that others will notice - we can do all those things exteriorly while constantly entertaining evil thoughts and self-centered desires in our hearts. That kind of divided life, which is called hypocrisy, can't last. As the old saying goes, unless we live according to what we believe, we will soon start believing in accordance with what we live. Or, as Jesus puts it elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 6:21): where our hearts are, there our treasure is. True followers of Jesus Christ can never be satisfied with merely exterior piety; we can never consider ourselves superior to others just because our sins are less visible. That's what the Pharisees did, and it blinded them to God's love; in fact, it tragically turned them into enemies of God. True religion has exterior manifestations, certainly, but they are meant to flow from and give expression to the experience of the heart. The heart is the place where we decide for or against our conscience, for or against God's will. Our friendship with Christ, and the purpose, strength, and vigor that flows out of that friendship, depend on our inner allegiance to him. Jesus doesn't care what we look like to others; he cares about who we really are. And so, that's what we should care about too.

When we come to worship we are invited by Jesus to examine our own religious practices. Do we come to Sunday liturgy because we want to get something or to give something? The reason we should come to Sunday Mass is so that we can share our faith, enter into the celebration with spirit, with life, with joy, with enthusiasm. Giving of oneself in the celebration enriches oneself and others in the community. That could happen if we came to our Sunday celebration not out of habit, not out of conformity, and not out of obeying a law, but because we want to come and praise and thank God with all the spirit that we can bring forth. That could happen if we came to every Sunday liturgy with the conviction that this is a time when we pour forth our love for God and our love for one another. Then we enrich ourselves and enrich one another. If we had this attitude, every Sunday celebration would be filled with a joyous community of people praising God and enriching one another.

Let’s also not forget the words of St.James: Be doers of the Word and not just hearers, lest you deceive yourselves. In the sight of God, pure and blameless religion lies in helping the orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world's corruption.

Let us avoid the tendency to become cafeteria Christians by choosing certain commandments and Church laws to follow, and ignoring the others as we do in a cafeteria or buffet restaurant. Let’s ask God for the grace to worship Him in Spirit and truth.