Tuesday, February 10, 2015 5th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
1st reading:
Gen 1:20 – 2:4
Gospel: Mk 7:1–13
One day the Pharisees gathered around Jesus and with them were some teachers of the Law who had just come from Jerusalem.
They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their meal with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. Now the Pharisees, and in fact, all the Jews, never eat without washing their hands for they follow the tradition received from their ancestors. Nor do they eat anything when they come from the market without first washing themselves. And there are many other traditions they observe, for example, the ritual washing of cups, pots and plates.
So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat with unclean hands?”
Jesus answered, “You, shallow people! How well Isaiah prophesied of you when he wrote: These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, for what they teach are only human rules. You even put aside the commandment of God to hold fast to human tradition.”
And Jesus commented, “You have a fine way of disregarding the commandment of God in order to implant your own tradition. For example, Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and: Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. But according to you someone could say to his father or mother: ‘I already declared Corban, which means “offered to God,” what you could have expected from me.’
In this case, you no longer let him do anything for a father or mother. So you nullify the word of God through the tradition you have handed on. And you do many other things like that.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated
Life Experience)
No amount of good works can hide bad motives from God read hearts. God even takes offense at their deeds because these make all the more glaring the hypocrisy behind the polarization of motives and deeds.
Our motives and deeds have parted ways many times too. It suffices to cite non-observance of the minimum wage law in the Philippines by many pious Christian employers. Their underpaid laborers ask: aren’t our employers God’s ardent worshippers? Hypocrisy can even implicate God! He has good reasons to take offense at this kind of spirituality.
In fairness, good works, even when done with ill motives, have their own lucky beneficiaries. But if we want these good deeds to please not just people but God, we need to comply with the requirement of good motives because God reads hearts. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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