What the Law of God is For? – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

 What does the Law (Torah), which is a set of commandments (mitzvot), of God means to you? Where do we find the Law? How do we observe the Law?

These are some important reflective questions to ask ourselves as we go over the Scripture Readings for the 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Deuteronomy 4:1–2,6–8; Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5; James 1:17–18, 21–22, 27; Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23.

Through these readings, we are to make sure that we find the Law of God as a helpful divine gift with joy because we know it keeps our hearts pure with true conscience while guiding our path to the destiny, the full communion with the Triune God through Christ the Son (the Parakletos – 1 John 2:1) and the Holy Spirit (another Parakletos – John 14:16).

The Gospel Reading (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) describes the hypocrites’ abuse of Law and Jesus’ “diagnosis” of this problem, while the First Reading (Deuteronomy 4:1–2,6–8) reminds us of the importance of the observance of the Law, taking a painful lesson from the Israelites during Exodus. The Second Reading (James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27) calls us to act in accordance with the Law, not just letting it pass from ear to another ear. And the Responsorial Psalm (15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5) reminds that acting with the Law means to act justly in the presence of God.

In the Gospel Reading (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23), at first, Jesus and his disciples were accused by the hypocrites, the Pharisees and some scribes for eating with unwashed hands, making it sound like a violation of Exodus 30:18-21, though Jesus and his disciples were not in the tent of meeting. It was obvious that these hypocrites were like spies, to be sent from Jerusalem to find a way to accuse and attack Jesus.

Actually, the Pharisees and some scribes from Jerusalem were accusing Jesus and his disciples for not washing their hands to eat, not based on the written Law but rather based on the tradition of elders that they observe (Mark 7:5). And Jesus called it a human tradition, citing Isaiah 29:13, saying:

Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition (Mark 7:6-8).

To better understand why Jesus accused the Pharisees and the scribes for disgracing God’s commandments in the Law by clinging to human condition, we need to go over Mark 7: 9-13.

In these skipped verses from today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus confronts how the hypocrites tactfully nullify the spirit of the Law in the Word by replacing God’s teaching with human tradition to find a covetous gain for themselves.

The Corban tradition was what the hypocrites made up to let people circumvent what the Law commands on honoring parents (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), giving people an opportunity to make a plausible excuse to avoid fully honoring parents by making a Corban offering. What is given for a Corban offering should have given to help and honor parents, in accordance with Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16. However, by tempting people what is to be given to honor parents to be offered as Corban – as an offering to God, instead, the hypocrites made them think they honored God above their parents by diverting what was to give to parents to the hypocrites in the name of God.

Jesus confronted the hypocrites for their invention of the Corban requirement to profit for themselves by letting children circumvent their responsibilities for their parents.

In the eyes of Jesus, these who cling to a human tradition – though it may sound like observance of the Law – by disgracing God’s commandments are hypocrites. Such human conditions can be just as abominable to God as the Corban tradition. And even it is the purity tradition of the elders, if it is imposed on such hypocrites, it makes no sense to God’s Law.

Then, Jesus proceeded to give his insights on what make religious people hypocrites in Mark 7:14-23.

Jesus said:

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile (Mark 7:15).

And he further said to his disciples:

Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine? But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile. (Mark 7:18-23).

The hypocrites may seem to be obsessed with external cleanliness, setting aside the Law by making and upholding a human tradition to satisfy their own legalistic pride. But, what matters to Jesus, in his teaching of the Law, is the purity of our hearts, as the condition of the heart determines whether what we say and do are defiled.

It is important to note that Jesus’ teaching of the Law is not really legalistic but rather psychological, focusing on the condition of our hearts. And this is also found in his teaching during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:17-48. To meet Jesus’ expectation on observing the Law, we really must let the Law shape our hearts so that we can observe it out of our hearts. This way, we are not likely to defile and fall into a gutter of legalism as the hypocrites did.

Legalism can reduce observance of the God-given Law into mere human tradition. To avoid this pitfall of the hypocrites, the Gospel Reading (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) challenges us to be able to discern what is the true divine intention in the Law and what is human tradition disguising the divine legal tradition. For this, we need the Holy Spirit for the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and discernment (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).

In Mark 7:21-23, Jesus reminds that pathological evidence of corrupt, defiled hearts manifests in vices, which Paul lists in Galatians 5:19-21. And, Paul also tells the necessity of the Holy Spirit, because the multifaceted fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is evidence of our countermeasures to problems of vices, which reflects corrupt and defiled hearts.

This is why Paul has said: if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the Law (Galatians 5:18), and it also means being under grace (Romans 6:14).

For us to be under grace, not the Law, we must be guided by the Holy Spirit, as Paul teaches (Romans 6:14; Galatians 5:18) by letting the Law be found and shape us from our heart (2 Corinthians 3:3).

The First Reading (Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–8) describes Moses reemphasizing the importance of observing the God-given Law in order to enter the Promised Land, crossing the Jordan River. This statement of Moses reflects not only a painfully critical lesson to the Israelites who had sinned against God during Exodus but also the sin of Moses. Because of their sin, not all Israelites would be able to enter the Promised Land (i.e. Numbers 14:20-35). Because of his sin, Moses was also prohibited from entering the Promised Land even though he had served God (Numbers 20:2-12). Reflecting on this two-fold lesson, this is why Moses urged his fellow Israelites to observe the Law carefully, as it is a sign of wisdom and understanding, as the Exodus journey from Egypt to the Promised Land drew nearer to its end (Deuteronomy 4:6).

Failure to observe the commandments (mitzvoth) in the Law (Torah) may result in death without reaching the Promised Land during Exodus (i.e. Numbers 14:29, 32, 35). In contrast, those who observe them may live and enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 4:1).  And we are not to tamper or edit the Law but to observe its commandments faithfully (Deuteronomy 4:2; cf. Revelation 22:7, 18-19).

Tampering the Law (Deuteronomy 4:2) – the Word of God – is a disgrace of twisting God’s commandments to make a human tradition (Mark 7:8). And this is an abuse of the Law, as the hypocrites did (Mark 7:1-13), and will result in a failure to observe the Law.

Why do we need to fool around the Law, as it gives us life? Just meditate on the longest Psalm, Psalm 119. See if you can share the joy of the psalmist’s joy with the Law as it is the joy to be with God. And this is also reflected in the Responsorial Psalm (15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5).

Being with God in perfection is our destiny, as it is the condition of the Kingdom of God, our ultimate Promised Land, as presented by Jesus.

So, why don’t we embrace the Law wholeheartedly? It, in the form of the Word, is the perfect gift from God, to give us life and entitles us to salvation of our souls, enabling us to practice perfect and undefiled religion, through our acts of mercy, while keeping ourselves unaffected by the world, as James reminds us in the Second Reading (James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27).