by Rev. Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

There once was a mother who was totally desperate about her two sons who were hellions and completely incorrigible. In a last desperate attempt, she took them to the sternest minister in town for a lecture. The older boy went into the minister’s study. Glaring at the boy from behind his desk, the minister waited a few moments and then challenged the boy: "Young man, where is God?"

The boy sat in stunned silence. The minister rose part way out of his chair and said again, "I asked you, where is God?"

Now, the boy began to quake with fear for he realized that this was no ordinary lecture for being bad! Stepping from behind the desk, the impassioned minister now shouted his question, "WHERE IS GOD?"

At this the boy jumped out of his chair and bolted out of the door. In doing so he ran headlong into his younger brother.

"What’s wrong? What’s the matter?" his brother asked.

"It’s awful!" he exclaimed. "The church has lost God and they’re BLAMING US!"

The Pharisees in Jesus’ time were meticulously concerned with cleanliness. It was a vital part of their religious practice. In today’s gospel a group of Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus why his disciples did not live according to the tradition of the elders, and failed to wash their hands before eating. The Pharisees were not concerned about personal hygiene. Cleanliness was ceremonial rather than hygienic. A person had to be clean before being permitted to worship God. To be unclean meant that a person could not approach God. Over a longer period of time the Pharisees and scribes had developed a complex system of rules and regulations on cleanness and uncleanness. However, it was not based on scripture, but rather, on oral tradition, which Jesus rejected, because as you recall in the 1^st reading when Moses gave the people the law to live by, he decreed, "You shall not add to what I command you, nor subtract from it."

To the Pharisees uncleanness wasn’t even a matter of morality. It was contracted by touching certain people or things, or by eating certain things. Uncleanness was considered contagious, and remaining clean was not easy. Therefore, they had fashioned this elaborate system of washings. It was all these empty rituals that Jesus and his disciples ignored. Jesus charged the Pharisees with giving God honor with their lips and by religious ceremonies, but that their hearts were far from God. They had in fact, "lost God."

Jesus say’s in today’s gospel: "there is nothing outside a person that can go in and defile, but things that come out are what defile. It is not from ceremonial uncleanness that evil comes, but from a person’s heart."

When any expression of religion places supreme value on the external things, it misses the point, because Jesus revealed to us a God who, far from being a legalistic scorekeeper and judge, is a loving Father longing for the wayward child to come home. The religion of the Bible -- the word of God -- is more concerned with inward goodness than with self-centered obsession to get everything right. Jesus is not seeking perfect performance from us but a responsive heart.

There is an inherent danger in all ritual observance, which is that it can foster pride and lead to a sense of superiority in contrast to those who seem to be less observant of all the rules and regulations. The result is self-righteousness and a tendency to be judgmental in regard to others.

However, it is also important for us to take note that Jesus did not condemn ritual observance, which today would mean frequenting the sacraments and devotion to prayer. What he does condemn is religious observance that is limited to the external aspects and does not include that for which the ritual exists, namely, the conversion of one’s heart from pride and self-centeredness to loving concern and compassion for others.

As today’s 2^nd reading from St. James says: "Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Today’s gospel reminds us that we are not made clean by keeping all the rules and laws. It is impossible. We are too dirty and live in a world that is too dirty. But we are made clean through faith, which is a free gift of God’s grace. It is something we receive, not something we achieve. This is the meaning of baptism. Consequently, since this type of conversion is a gift from God, then there is no reason for us having any pride in achieving it.