Gospel Reflection

September 02, 2012

Sunday

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

by Rev.  Fr. Chris Habal

Afternoon Mass at EDSA Shrine, Our Lady of Peace Quasi-Parish

First Reading:                Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Psalm:                          Psalm 15:2-5

Second Reading            James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27

Gospel:                         Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" 6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men." 14 And he called the people to him again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him." 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”

HOMILY

If we listen very well to the First Reading, we can hear Moses, already at the end of his life, already at the end of his career, as the leader of God's people. Moses was saying "My stint as a leader is finished; I am facing the twilight of my life, and you are about to enter the promised land. Ang habilin ko sa inyo, kung gusto ninyong magkaroon ng buhay, kung gusto ninyong magkaroon ng karunungan, in the promised land, follow faithfully the law of the Lord. Observe carefully the law. Do not add, do not subtract anything from it, follow it wholeheartedly." This is the first message of God's Word for us this Sunday - the law is being presented to us. We are invited by God's word to follow the Word, the law, the tradition of our faith.

Mahalaga 'yon mga minamahal kong kapatid. Just like the Jews, we should place before us, before our minds, before our hearts, the laws of the Lord. Just like the Jews, we Christians have our own set of laws. We have the 10 Commandments, we have the teachings of the Church. Just like the Jews, we Christians have our own external expressions of our faith. The mass has its rituals, rich external expressions of our faith. There are certain external demands being asked of us by our faith. The first message of God's word is, let us observe them faithfully. Let us obey them, for they are ways that will lead us to life in God. They will teach us wisdom that comes from God.
Lalo na sa mga panahong ito ano - we are easily tempted to do away with God's law, with our own complicated ways of thinking, we can easily formulate justification to 'beat around the bush', to go beyond the law of God. For example na lang ano, 'yong issue ng abortion. Marami silang reason ano. Ang sabi ng iba, hindi pa 'yon abortion kung three months pa lang. Hindi pa 'yon abortion kung di pa lumabas ang ulo, kasi para sa iba, hindi pa siya tao kung di pa lumabas ang ulo. Kaya hanggang di lumalabas ang ulo, di yon abortion. But it is very clear. This is just an example on how we can formulate excuses, rationalization to go around God's law. But the first reminder is - follow the law of the Lord, to observe it faithfully, because the law of the Lord will give us wisdom, will lead us to our eternal life with God.

However, when we go to the Gospel, we are faced with another extreme. The law of God is being reduced into mere external observance. And this is, my friends, the problem of the Pharisees. From the outside, they seem to be righteous, obedient to the law, following the law of God to the minutest detail. But in their observance of the law, they became legalistic, they became judgmental, they became self-righteous - exalting themselves while looking down on the rest of humanity. The law became a mere external observance - a social norm that we need to conform to. That is why when we think of Jesus against the Pharisees, these people promise to do their best, but their hearts are far from it. In vain do they follow the Lord, teaching as doctrines, human precepts. And so the warning of Jesus is - yes, we need to observe the law of God faithfully - yes, we need to observe the external demands of our faith - yes we need to follow the external expressions of our faith, but it should go to the heart. It should touch the deepest core of our being, as God's children.

That is why Jesus beautifully summed up the meaning of the law. He said, "Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength - with all your whole self". And love your neighbor, as yourself. The fulfillment of the law for Jesus is - love. Loving God, and loving neighbor. But the Pharisees lost the spirit of the law, which is love. This should be a warning for us - while we faithfully observe God's law, let us not lose its spirit. That is why the formula should be - the external and the internal should coincide in us. We call it sincerity. Kapag nagtutugma 'yong panlabas at sa panloob natin, ang tawag natin sa taong 'yon ay totoo. Pero - pag ang panlabas at ang panloob ay di nagtutugma, ang tawag natin doon ay pakitang tao. Or in the words of Jesus - hypocrisy. The challenge is to make the external expressions of our faith truly coincide with what is within us. Maganda yan sa Filipino ano - kalooban. Kasi sabi ni Hesus, kung ano ang laman ng kalooban, ganon tayong uri ng tao. Sapagkat sa kalooban nagmumula ang ating mga kilos. So the challenge is to bridge that gap.

Kaya nakakalungkot minsan ano - 'yong tinatawag nilang 'split level Christianity'. Pinagmamalaki natin palagi ano - we are the only Christian nation in Asia. But we are not the only Christian nation in Asia - nandiyan na 'yong Timor-Leste, which is also a Christian nation in Asia. 80% Catholic, but at the same time, one of the most corrupt. Split-level Christianity - an instance wherein the external does not match with the internal. This the challenge - to make the external in us of the law of God, match with what is inside us, with our hearts, with our lives. And that is the point of the Second Reading. Sabi ni St. James, a religion that truly pleases God is the one which cares for the widow and the orphans, and keeps oneself unstained by the values of the world. Simply put, a religion pleasing to God is a religion of love, a religion of compassion, of kindness, of basic goodness to our brothers and sisters. And so our spiritual teachers in our Catholic tradition, for them, it is also the effective guage. If we want to know if we are growing in our spiritual life, the guage is if we become more and more loving persons, kind persons, persons with compassion - people with heart.

So my dear brothers and sisters, we continue the Eucharist and we ask Jesus to help us to be faithful - really faithful - within and without, to the law of God. And we ask Him to make us sincere in our exercise of faith. We ask Him to transform us from within, so that we may be truly be pleasing to Him inside and out, Amen.