What use are all
these rules and commandments?
Communal life has always
involved rules. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses enjoins the people to hear
the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, and the people
must listen not only with their heads but with their hearts, so they can give evidence of their wisdom and intelligence to the nations. In essence, Moses is asking the people of
Israel to reconsider how they live and why. Psalm 15 enumerates the conduct necessary for
one who would like to live in the
presence of the Lord, that is, one who is fully open to living according to
the God’s Word: they must do justice, the psalmist tells them. In both cases, a consideration of society’s
rules challenges the people to step beyond what their heads can understand to
absorb what their hearts intuit. Taking
in God’s Word means opening to the transformation that God’s word works in us,
and living accordingly.
In Mark’s Gospel,
Jesus will challenge the Jewish authorities to reconsider the basis for the
many, many rules they have established to govern daily life. When they ask Jesus, Why do your disciples eat a meal with unclean hands? Jesus responds
with a clear understanding of God’s
commandment and human tradition’s
reinterpretation of that commandment: This people honors me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me. In
slavish attention to rules without any attention to the meaning behind those
rules, the people have lost their connection to God; they are too caught up in
tangibles that don’t lead them beyond the surface. The Word of God, Jesus is saying, must touch
the core of our very being, must change us – but it can only do so if we are
open to it, if we hear it with our hearts.
And if that Word does change us, the fruits
can be infinite, as we will naturally follow James’ advice and be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
Rules are indeed necessary
to our daily life, but if we only understand them at their literal level, hearing
with our heads and not our hearts, we are missing out on that perfect gift that ours, the transformation
that God wills for us, and that will ultimately effect salvation for all.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordle.net
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