First Reading Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Second Reading Galatians 3:23-4:11
Gospel Reading Matthew 15:1-20
Matthew 15:1-20
1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honor the father. 6So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'”
10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
I wonder what Jesus would say about wearing a mask. What should be an obvious and necessary public health measure has been reduced to another culture war symbol. Which side are you on? Jesus regularly encounters these fraught symbols, especially in his arguments with the Pharisees. They’re concerned that Jesus and his disciples are not following Israel’s food laws (interestingly, some scholars think that Israel’s religious approach to food was a kind of early public health measure). This was a big deal, especially because religious customs were part of what maintained Jewish identity while under occupation. So a major identity marker for Israel, observance of the law, is at issue. But that’s not really the issue for Jesus. He is less concerned with the symbol, and more concerned with the reality it exposes. Israel’s religion revealed a compassionate God; and compassion was a matter of the heart. What does our observance of religious rituals say about our lives? What does the way we live say about our hearts? I think I know what Jesus would say about wearing a mask.
God, help us, especially when we’re too sure, or feel to righteous, or, above all, when we think ourselves better than our neighbors. Let your compassion reign in us, that our hearts would show your love, in Jesus Christ. Amen.
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