Proper 17, Year B (RCL) notes

[Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23]

There are any number of little habits which tradition has handed down to the Church to adorn its worship: kneeling at certain times, standing at others; making the sign of the cross; bowing slightly at the Name of Jesus, or at the passing of the cross; etc. These are outward, physical movements which, considered all by themselves, say nothing about the soul of the worshipper. One can kneel without feeling penitent or worshipful; make the sign of the cross without adoring Christ; bow without believing in he whom the Name and the cross stands for.

These "manual acts" of our devotion can make hypocrites -- in the Greek, literally "play-actors" or "pretenders" -- of us, if we are only "going through the motions." However, this is not to say that these manual acts do not have their place in worship. When they proceed from the promptings of the heart, they are outward manifestations of our faith-- allowing our bodies to pray along with our lips. We express our adoration of God with not only our words, but with our whole physical being-- our gesture and body language and posture all being set to the worship of God. When these little actions (bowing, crossing ourselves, standing, kneeling, etc.) flow outward from our hearts, they have a rightful place in our devotional lives.

The sorts of "teachings" Jesus attacks the Pharisees for in today's Gospel are not intrinsically evil. Washing hands and cups, and taking care that one eats kosher foods, are not in and of themselves unethical. Jesus does not condemn the entire Holiness Code of dietary and bodily cleanliness, nor does he neccesarily condemn the careful piety which prompted the Pharisees to build "hedges" around the Torah, to be so extra careful about their observance of the Law that they went the extra mile. Like the expressions of our piety which have evolved as part of Christian tradition, these Pharisaical traditions can be an expression of healthy devotion to the Lord.

We must resist the temptation to "spiritualize" our ethics so that we think it does not matter what we do with our bodies. Jesus is not drawing a line between the physical and the spiritual here. The point is emphatically not that we should turn inwards, meditating upon our own bellybuttons rather than worrying about our outward actions.

Jesus condemns not the care with which the Pharisees scrutinized behaviour, but their overemphasis of action over heart. Our goodness proceeds outward from our heart. Outward shows of piety without faith are hypocrisy--play-acting. It is the empty shell of faith, like the husk of a cicada that has shed its skin.

However, from the believing heart, all sorts of acts of devotion will naturally flow. From the faithful heart-- almsgiving, righteousness, faithfulness, and perhaps, depending on our styles of piety, the sign of the cross or the "washing of cups"-- will naturally follow.