Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Jose Luis Lorenzo SVD – Japan
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – B
If you eat with your hands, it is but normal to wash them before meals. So the criticism of the Pharisees and scribes about the disciples of Jesus on not washing their hands would seem justified. The problem, however, was not really the actual washing of the hands but the ritual behind it.
I found a tutorial for the Jewish ritual cleansing of the hands on YouTube. It has to be done in a certain way, otherwise it would not be valid and your hands would still be considered unclean. This was what the Pharisees and the scribes were referring to. The ritual washing of the hands.
And this was what Jesus was objecting to. There is nothing wrong with rituals and traditions as long as they achieve their true purpose. In this case, the purpose of the ritual cleansing was the invitation to purity, not only of the body but also of the heart. And this is where the Pharisees and the scribes were found wanting. They were merely interested in following the external part of the rituals without considering the implications and the challenges that accompanied those rituals.
Jesus reminds us in the Gospel where true purity and true cleanliness lie. Our souls can only enter heaven if they are pure and free from any stain of sin. So just as we take care not to stain our clothes or for our shoes not to gather mud, we should also be very careful about blackening our hearts with evil thoughts and deeds. We can buy new utensils and new clothes but we can never replace our souls.
We have a very common ritual when entering a church. We dip our fingers in holy water and make the sign of the cross. We do this almost automatically without thinking of what we are doing. There are people in church who might forget making the sign of the cross but whose faith is stronger than ours. So instead of judging them, let us focus instead on our own faith as we make the sign of the cross, bearing in mind that the ritual is actually a sign that once again we renew our baptismal promise of renouncing evil and believing in the Holy Trinity.
It would be fitting, perhaps, if we could also make our own daily rituals that will contribute to making us better Christians. Like making the sign of the cross when we wake up and before we go to sleep. Like greeting our co-workers with a cheerful countenance. Let the rituals and traditions of our faith be truly a reflection of our deep trust in the Lord and of our commitment to follow in His steps.
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