The Real Defilement
Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR
Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, California
Sunday, September 2, 2018
My beloved mother— she is a saint, was fond of saying after opening her hands and showing them to her listeners, “Just because I washed my hands properly with soap and water does not mean my hands are clean.” Another thoughtful statement she used to say during her earthly life was, “Having a good bath does not mean you are clean.” These words of my late mother can help us understand today’s Gospel (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23).
Today’s Gospel passage tells us that the Pharisees and some of the scribes approached Jesus and complained that his disciples were violating the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before a meal. Traditionally, Jews are required by custom to wash their hands before any meal; and to also purify objects like cups, jugs, kettles, and beds. The cleaning and purifying of these daily used objects was a way of getting rid of any accidental impurity that could potentially render whoever comes into contact with them legally and ritually unclean. The external or exterior purification was carefully observed to the extent that when someone returns from a public place like the marketplace, he or she must also undergo a purification. Why? Because the person may have come in closer contact with the Gentiles. The Gentile nations were considered unclean people— a type of racism and discrimination.
Responding to their complaint, Jesus emphasized the moral intent of the Law, which goes beyond its literal interpretation. Although it is the Law that stipulated certain regulations for cultivating the moral purity necessary to approach God, but it is the tradition that applied these laws and customs to other matters, like eating. In diebus illis, (In those days), external purity was seen as the evidence of integrity. If one observed and performed the ritual act of purification, the person is considered “clean,” “pure,” and “upright.” But as we can see, this way of reasoning paid little attention to the interior, to what lies in the heart of a man. It paid little or no attention to what really defiles a person. So, in his response, Jesus took his audience and those of us reading this passage today precisely where we ought to pay more attention to: the heart. Remember my prominent questions and comment: “What lies in your heart?” “What’s in your heart?” “Pay attention to what lies in your heart!”
Friends, is it good to wash hands before eating? Absolutely, yes! Those of us who study or work in healthcare settings like hospitals, clinics, hospice etc. know the vital importance of washing hands before and after a patient is visited. A clean hand, many studies have shown, saves lives. It has given rise to this inscription we see at PIH Hospital, “A clean hand is a helping hand.” Is it good to take a bath after the day’s hustling and bustling? You betcha! Is it strongly recommended to wash dishes like cups, jugs, kettle before use? Resounding yes! Is it hygienic to wash our bed linens regularly? Indisputably yes! Now, as important and sometimes, lifesaving, these practices could be, are they in essence acts that make us morally and spiritually pure and clean? Not at all! If the meaning behind them does not express and refer to the cleansing of a person’s inner life, then they cannot make anyone pure. Jesus stressed the importance of purity of heart when he said, “from within people, from their hearts come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” And in his sermon on the Mount, he declared, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”
Brothers and sisters, today’s Gospel teaches us that it is not everyone who washes his or her hands and sits at the table has a pure heart and clean intentions. So, just as we take care of our external body— (two baths a day, one in the morning and one at night, brushing twice each day, one in the morning, and one at night, plus after meal floss, several hand washing, and other hygienic things we do to keep germs and bacteria away), we are invited by the Lord to double that effort to purify our hearts and make them a worthy habitat for God to dwell. Once again, I say to all of us, take care of what lies in your heart. If they are good, keep and nurture them to fruition, but if they are bad and ugly, purge them now, not later. As Jesus says, “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” (Matt. 12:34b). Put differently, from the abundance of the heart, we speak and act. No one goes to hell for not washing hands before meal, and not washing and purifying cups, jugs and kettle. But if we refuse to purify our hearts, refuse to remove all forms of wickedness and rebellion from it, and refuse to make it ready for the Lord to come in and dwell therein, we may not see God here and thereafter.
