AVOID THE RELIGION OF THE LIPS AND UPHOLD THE RELIGION OF THE HEART.

HOMILY FOR THE 22ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY  TIME OF THE YEAR B

R1:  Deut, 4:1-2,6:8 

R2: James1;17-18,21b-22,27

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

AVOID THE RELIGION OF THE LIPS AND UPHOLD THE RELIGION OF THE HEART.

Today's readings lead us to reflect on the best way to obey God's law for the sake of our own salvation.

In the first reading, Moses spoke to the people saying, "you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord". What is meant by adding or subtracting from God's command?  The laws are the Word of God, they are complete. How could any  human being with limited wisdom and knowledge, edit God's perfect law? 

Thus to add to the laws of God presupposes that they are incomplete. To presume to make changes in God's law is to assume a position of authority over God who gave the laws ( Matt 5: 27-19, 15:3-9). Yet the religious leaders at the time of Jesus Christ did exactly this. They elevated their own laws to the same level as God's.  Jesus rebuked them for this ( Matt 23: 1-4). And this is  happening in our society today. We should know that God never gives a law that has no purpose. He gives it for the salvation of our soul.

Moreso, in the second reading, St. Paul advises us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is important to listen to what God's word says but it is much more important to obey it, to do what it says. Thus we can measure the effectiveness of our Bible study time by the effect it has on our behavior and attitude. Do we put into action what we hear or study in the Bible? 

To keep ourselves from being polluted by the world, we need to commit ourselves to Christ's ethical and moral system not to the world. We are not to adapt to the world's value system, which is based on Money, power, and pleasure. True faith means nothing if we are contaminated with such values.

Moreover, in the gospel reading, Jesus scolded the Pharisees for keeping the law and traditions pretentiously in order to look holy instead of to honour God.

The scribes and Pharisees are the religious leaders in the time of Jesus Christ. They were so religious and never took any of their religious ceremonies lightly. They prayed very well, they fasted and payed their tithes regularly, yet Jesus condemned them as hypocrites. Why?

Jesus was never against any of their religious life but their pretense. He wanted their external observance to have a pure interior disposition. He wanted what they claimed they were (Religious leader), to reflect in their lives. In other words, he expected them to be just in their dealings and show mercy and love to people around them as a sign of their faith in God. As a religious leaders, their lives should be models for others to emulate.

Be that as t may, the essence of today's message is to guide us against living the life of pretense which those scribes and the Pharisees of that time lived.

As you perform your religious duties and obligations, do not ignore the most important aspect of religion which is faith, love, mercy and justice. Let us not give undue importance to external observance of rules and regulations while neglecting a friend who is in need of our help, neighbor who lives in misery, a sick person who has no money to buy medicine. And finally note that nothing that goes into a man makes him unclean but what come out of a man makes him unclean.

Peace be with you.

Reflection by:

Fr. Valentine Ebube SMMM