HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II (2)
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II.
THEME: NOT JUST THE OUTSIDE.
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 2 2022
‘That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.’
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II.
THEME: NOT JUST THE OUTSIDE.
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 2 2022
‘That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.’
In the Gospel (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14), The Pharisees and scribes came to see Jesus, a tribute to His growing reputation and their growing discomfort with Him. They criticized Jesus for not correcting His disciples when they failed to observe ritual cleansing.
Dietary laws are an important part of Jewish religious observance. They are at the heart of the Torah, the holiest part of Jewish scriptures. Dietary laws helped to create the sense of a separate people, so important to Jewish identity. The movement was circular. God’s people kept the dietary laws, and those laws helped to establish their identity as God’s people.
The Pharisees were self-appointed experts in matters of dietary laws, dress codes, etc. These practices allowed them to decide who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out.’ And what is worse, the insiders became judgmental toward the outsiders. Speaker and author Dallas Willard writes, ‘How many people are repelled by Christians who are unfeeling, stiff, unapproachable, boringly lifeless, and dissatisfied? Yet such Christians are everywhere.’
The truth is, when our lives are not marked by genuine joy and devotion to Christ we start looking for superficial ways to distinguish ourselves from the people we classify as ‘worldly.’ We set rules, create cliques and end up judging others. It becomes the ‘Christians’ and the ‘non-Christians’. Even our churches aren’t immune to it. There can be cliques and judgement there too. But Paul writes: ‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal’ (1 Corinthians 13:1).
In challenging Jewish dietary observance, Jesus redirects the focus from that which enters the mouth (food) to that which springs from the mouth (thoughts, feelings, and motives) expressed in words. Given the longstanding emphasis on dietary laws, Jesus’ statement is quite radical.
Today, men and women of our ‘fixing generation’ are seriously engaged in fixing face, skin, head, hands, legs while the heart and soul are dirty and dark. We desire to glitter on the outside and not bothered about the inside. And everything external has become our measure for judgement. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our world, bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen. Good morning.
Fr. Karabari Paul
