GOSPEL POWER | AUGUST 29, 2021 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 15 – The one who does justice will live  in the presence of the Lord.

2nd Reading: Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

Gospel: Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 1 

When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from  Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his  disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing  them.  (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they  thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the  elders;  and they do not eat anything from the market unless they  wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe,  the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)  So the Pharisees and  the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according  to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”  He said  to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly 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 human precepts  as doctrines.’  You abandon the commandment of God and hold to  human tradition.” ...Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to  me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that  by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” ... “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil  intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice,  wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All  these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Reflection:

Deliberate neglect of the essential matters of the law is  sure to lead to preoccupation with insignificant details.  Though Moses explicitly prohibited adding anything to  God’s commandments (cf. first reading), the scribes and Pharisees  insist obsessively on the human tradition of ceremonial washing.  They equate holiness with a clean exterior because of their excessive  concern with appearances. But holiness is a matter of the heart and  is primarily relational. It has to do with being doers of the word (cf.  second reading), especially in behalf of those who are powerless and  voiceless — the orphans and widows in New Testament times; the  poor and underprivileged, the refugees and those displaced by war  and violence in today’s world.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to prioritize purity of the heart over pleasing  appearance. And let every word we hear from you move us into action.  Amen.