Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “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?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
The Native Americans believe there are two wolves living within each of us.
One wolf feeds on things that defile us, which Jesus mentions in the Gospel: pride, selfishness, gossip, anger, judgment, and lust.
The other wolf feeds on virtues, such as patience, humility, forgiveness, kindness, and love.
The question is, “Which wolf wins?”
***
The one we feed.
***
When do I feed that evil wolf within?
And when do I feed the good one?
***
That evil wolf never dies without a fight, which is why the path to holiness can be difficult.
It’s not always easy to choose forgiveness over anger; selflessness over selfishness; chastity over lust; or silence over gossip.
But the more we feed that good wolf, the easier it becomes. May the Lord give us the grace we need to feed the right wolf today.
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.
***
***
Jesus’ words were very scandalous at the time he spoke them, because he directly accused the scribes and Pharisees of being hypocrites; phonies.
To be a “hypocrite” originally referred to someone who wore a mask; an “actor on a stage.”
Jesus applies the idea to the scribes and Pharisees, saying they’re no more than religiousactors.
Their entire practice of religion is like acting, because it’s not led to an inner transformation.
On the contrary, vesting themselves in robes and filling their minds with laws only hardened their hearts, making them believe they were better than others.
***
Unfortunately, there always will be some who use religion as a cloak. They appear holy on the outside but are unchanged within.
***
Certainly, we’re gathered here this morning because we wantto know the Lord. We wantto be holy.
So, what does this Gospel have to do with us?
There’s always the temptation to become comfortable with religion, to reach a point where we no longer change within.
Perhaps our prayers have become rote; we say the words without attaching our hearts to them. Or we stop the Spirit from inching us out of our comfort zones. Or we slow our efforts at charity.
But religion is always meant to stretch us; to challenge us to love more, to serve longer, to pray harder, to live more humbly.
Resist becoming stagnant; allow the Spirit to stretch you today.
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day.
Then God said, “Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.” And so it happened: God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. God called the dome “the sky.” Evening came, and morning followed–the second day.
Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear.” And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land “the earth,” and the basin of the water he called “the sea.” God saw how good it was. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it.” And so it happened: the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was. Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.
Then God said: “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth.” And so it happened: God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was. Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day.
The Word of the Lord.
***
***
We believe that when God speaks … something happens.
The Book of Genesis, the very first book of the bible, is centered around this idea. When God speaks, he creates the world.
“Let there be light,” he says, and there is light.
“Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other,” and so it happened. The sky and the oceans were created.
***
Later in the Book of Genesis, God begins speaking to human beings.
He invites Abraham to follow him. “Walk in my presence,” the Lord says, “and your descendants will be as numberless as the stars.”
Although Abraham was once childless, today half of the world – some 3 billion people – call him their father in faith.
***
In the Gospels, Jesus speaks, and demons are cast out; stormy waters are stilled; sins are forgiven.
Then, during his final night on earth, Jesus takes a piece of bread and says, “This is my Body…this is my Blood.”
Jesus speaks…and feeds the world with his very Self.
The same is true in confession. Through a priest, the Lord says, “Ego te absolvo;” I absolve you. Your sins are forgiven.
***
Whenever God speaks, something happens. This was true from the foundation of the world. The same Lord who said, “Let there be light,” speaks to our hearts today.
