Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Mk. 7: 1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 
He responded,
“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.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.
Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.” 

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel passage sets the stage for a lengthy confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. 

The religious leaders are convinced that following the external laws and rituals handed down to them from their ancestors are what make them God’s chosen people. 

But Jesus challenges this deep-seeded belief, claiming that God’s favor does not come through handwashing or Sabbath keeping; rather, through purity of heart. As the Psalmist cries out, “Create a clean heart in me, O GOD, renew in me a steadfast spirit.”

Handwashing and Sabbath keeping are fruitless exercises if they are not done with love.

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While this legal back-and-forth may sound trivial to us today, there is still a real challenge imbedded within it. 

The Lord is calling us to see beneath our own religious practices, such as attending Mass, reading scripture, and praying the rosary, and to examine our moral purity. As Jesus says elsewhere, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Perfection in this sense does not necessarily imply being without sin. Perfection is about the journey. The striving. The effort it takes to reach spiritual maturity; moral clarity; wisdom; ultimately, allowing Christ to live in us and to love others through us.

When I examine my own heart, do I lack moral clarity? Do I ever fall short of perfection?

Most importantly, do I do my best each day to allow Jesus to make his dwelling within me?

Perhaps such questions provide a pathway for us as we prepare for Lent.

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For this is how we find our way to perfection. Not by ridding ourselves of sin per se, but by opening ourselves to the presence of Christ so that we may be his voice, his hands, his feet, his beating heart in this world.

Create a clean heart in me, O GOD, renew in me a steadfast spirit.

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Image credits: (1) Sermons by Chris Goringe (2) Ritual Well (3) One Walk I With Jesus

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Gospel: Mark 6: 53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country 
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel takes place immediately after the disciples spend the entire night in a harrowing storm, crossing the Sea of Galilee without Jesus. 

Frazzled and relieved, they are now safely ashore. I’m sure all Peter and the others wanted to do was pause and take a nice, long nap.

But before they could blink an eye, crowds filled with the sick and suffering are already pressing in on them, hoping just to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak. 

How do you think these drowsy disciples responded to the sight of the crowds?

Worn out from the last several hours of stumbling in the dark like drunken fishermen, did they try to whisk Jesus away in order to take their rest? Or did they ignore their own exhaustion in order to help others in need?

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The Gospel doesn’t tell us how they responded, only that Jesus healed every person he touched.

What a difference it would make if we all followed the Lord’s example of patience, compassion, and generosity, in spite of how we might be feeling at any given moment.

Imagine the difference it’d make if we were patient with other drivers on the road, even while in a hurry ourselves. Or the difference it’d make in our hearts if we readily forgave people who offended us.

If we took the time to listen to our neighbor, even while preoccupied with our own thoughts; if we did the chores; made dinner; or responded to other people’s needs without complaint.

Or, in the disciples’ case, the difference it might’ve made if they brought just one person to Jesus, in spite of their own exhaustion.

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As Mother Teresa once said, “Christians are called to love until it hurts.” 

How might we feel that loving pinch today?

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Image credits: (1) Forbes (2) Christ Healing the Sick, Worcester Art Museum(3) Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church

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Gospel: Matthew 5: 13-16

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Here’s a question you might find on the game show, Jeopardy: “This highly sought after commodity was used to domesticate dogs nearly 10,000 years ago.”

The correct answer? What is salt.

For thousands of years, salt was used, not only to domesticate man’s best friend, but also to preserve food, to heal wounds, to seal agreements, and to pay soldiers. It’s from the word “salt,” that we get the word, “salary.”

Salt is still essential for our lives today – it flavors food, quickens water to a boil, serves as an antiseptic, and during snowy winters such as this one, melts ice on the roads. 

Even our bodies are dependent upon salt for survival. Without enough of it, we’d die. Yet too much in our body can kill us. We have to strike a balance.

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In today’s Gospel, we hear a continuation of Jesus first public sermon, containing the lion’s share of his ethical teachings. He began last week with the Beatitudes, calling the poor in spirit, the peacemakers, those who mourn, and the persecuted, “blessed.”

Today Jesus continues by calling us, “the salt of the earth.” He does not say, “You might be salt.” Or, “Someday you will be salt when you have a little more faith.” 

No, we already are. 

This is our shared mission as Christians. Just as salt preserves food from spoiling, so we are called to preserve faith and virtue here on earth. But, notice how this must be done.

Salt does not exist to preserve itself. If locked away in a cabinet, eventually it loses its flavor. As Jesus says, “It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Salt’s value is found in giving it away; in pouring it out; in scattering it; in dissolving it into something else. You might say, when it dies to itself.

This is the greatest paradox in all of Christ’s teachings – it is by dying, by pouring ourselves out, that we begin to live. As the prophet Isaiah proclaims in our first reading:

“Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them… Then you shall call and the LORD will answer…

…If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech, then the light shall rise in the darkness.”

If we ever stopped caring for the poor, washing people’s feet, shouting from our rooftops, forgiving those who hurt us, fighting against corruption, or living with pure hearts, then we’d begin losing our saltiness. And what good would we be then?

So, in what ways are we the salt of the earth? How do we preserve faith in our homes and in this community? How do we pour ourselves out for the good of others? 

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There is one caveat. Just as the human body would expire with too little – or too much – salt, so we must learn how to temper our zeal.

Too much salt can burn, sting, irritate, even destroy. Similarly, we need to be judicious with how much “salt” we pour into our words, actions, and relationships.

We should speak the truth, but always with gentleness. 

We should shout from our rooftops, even march in the streets, but without letting our zeal for souls turn into hatred of our neighbors.

We should share our faith in public, but not to the point of shoving it down peoples’ throats. 

We should correct people caught in sin, certainly those we love, but never with a judgmental eye or to the point of embarrassment. As the old saying goes, “Stop pouring salt in the wound.” Too much of it only makes things worse.

Faith is meant to season our conversations with love; to serve as an antiseptic; to heal wounded relationships by grace; to bring out the best in other people; and to inspire a genuine thirst in others for Christ.

But often achieving such goals comes with striking the right balance between zeal and patience, passion and reason, strength and kindness. 

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“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus says.

For better or for worse.

May it always be for the better as we pour ourselves out for the enhancement of others, the preservation of faith, and the healing of relationships. 

You might say, in tandem with Christ for the life of the world.

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Image credits: (1) Group Bible Study (2) Franciscan Friars of the Atonement (3) Pastor Daniel Flucke, WordPress