- Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 7:14-23
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17
Psalm 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30
Mark 7:14-23
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.”
Opening Prayer: Lord God, the coming of your Son has overcome all the barriers that separate people. We are able to be united in Christ as brothers and sisters and as your children. I long for the blessing of the eternal life of heaven.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Old Food Laws: Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel takes place immediately after the Pharisees from Jerusalem challenged him about observing their traditions. The Law of Moses provided strict dietary rules that had several purposes. First, they were a protection against foods that could be dangerous if not cooked or prepared properly. Second, they had a penitential dimension. The People of Israel had to make a sacrifice not eating certain foods, like shellfish, pork, and certain cuts of beef. Third, the dietary laws protected the People of Israel from contact and table fellowship with the Gentile (pagan) nations. A day was coming when the dietary restrictions, contained in the Law of Moses, would be rescinded. This is because the blessing given first to the children of Israel would be extended to the Gentiles. The cultural and social barrier between Israel and the Gentiles would no longer be necessary.
2. True Defilement and True Righteousness: The conflict with the Pharisees about their traditions takes place between two bread miracles – one for 5,000 in the territory of Israel and one for the 4,000 in Gentile territory. Mark uses this to indicate that a transition will be happening – a transition between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Pharisees sought Old Covenant righteousness by increasing the number of rules and restrictions and adding their traditions to the Law of Moses. They thought that they could be defiled by the food they ate or by their interactions with public sinners or Gentiles. Jesus brought the Old Covenant to fulfillment in the New and taught that true righteousness is primarily a divine gift and not a human achievement. He also taught that true defilement comes not from the food we eat but from within the human heart.
3. The Blessing of Life and the Curse of Death in the Covenant of Creation: In the first creation story, Genesis starts with the big picture and indicates that God’s creation of the world in seven days signifies that God wills to enter into a covenant with creation, making man and woman not simply his creatures, but his sons and daughters (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 13). In the second creation story, which we read today, Genesis zooms in on the creation of the first man. God formed man (Hebrew: adam) from the dust of the ground (Hebrews: adamah) and breathed into him the breath of life. On the one hand, man is a living being, like the other animals, but, on the other, unlike the other animals, because he is spiritual. God planted a garden (paradise) in Eden and put the man there to work in the garden and guard or protect it. Among the trees in the garden, two stood out: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first tree was an ancient symbol of immortality and divine wisdom (Proverbs 3:18) and its fruit was thought to confer everlasting life (Genesis 3:22). In short, it represented the covenant blessing and the way that leads to divine life. The second tree symbolized the authority to determine what is good and evil. This authority belongs to God alone. In short, the second tree represented the covenant curse of death that Adam would trigger if he sinned by determine for himself what is good and what is evil.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, the New Adam, bring about your righteousness in me. Fill me with your grace so that I may do good works and imitate your holiness of life.
Living the Word of God: How am I living the righteousness of the New Covenant? Am I empowered by God’s grace to do good works of charity and mercy? Or do my works look like the works of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) or the works of the flesh (unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly)?