[00:00:05] Hello! My name is Sally Moriarty Flask; welcome to From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. Together we will explore the readings that will be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, September 1, 2024, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
[00:00:24] This week's episode is entitled: Living with Pure Hearts and in these readings, we'll explore what motivates our actions in the world. As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following: Where do our thoughts take us and what type of people do we surround ourselves with?
[00:00:46] Let's begin in prayer. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of this day, for the gifts that you generously shower upon us in our lives, for the experiences you give us, the people you bring into our lives – those that challenge us, as well as those who make us happy, those that make us better people, and those that give us the opportunity to be better people.
[00:01:18] We ask that you give us open hearts and open minds so that when we look at every person we encounter, we see that echo of you. We see you in their eyes so that we will treat them as we know we are supposed to treat you. And we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:01:47] Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us this week in the scriptures.
[00:01:54] So our gospel this week is from the Gospel of Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
[00:02:08] When the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”
[00:03:13] “You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” And he called the people to him again, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”
[00:03:36] “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
[00:03:55] “All these things come from within, and they defile a man.”
[00:04:01] Okay, so that's the end of the Gospel of Mark, and as you'll notice, we have jumped back now to the Gospel of Mark after our brief 5-week foray into the Gospel of John. Remember when we left the gospel of Mark – the apostles had just returned after their first missionary journey and they came back and they were all excited… Oh, Lord, Lord, Lord… look what we did… look who we cured… look at the people we encountered… look! They were so excited - like kids coming back from vacation. There's a whole lot that happens – that's in the beginning of chapter 6 – there’s a whole lot that happens in chapter 6. And you'll notice we pick up here with chapter 7, so the rest of chapter 6 brings together Mark's account of the Feeding of the 5000…
[00:04:49] It also goes over the passage where Jesus walks on water… and then he goes to a town called Gennesaret and he heals the sick. Gennesaret is less than 5 miles from Caperna’um, which is Jesus's sort of home base. So all of this is happening very close to where Jesus exercises all of his ministry… it's all around the Sea of Galilee. And after all of those things, this is where we catch up to Jesus and the apostles… and that's the beginning of this passage. Now, it starts out with: “When the Pharisees gathered together to him” – in other words, the Pharisees – of course, are a lay movement… they believe in very, very strict observance to the law and not just the law in the Torah (or the first five books of the Bible) but also the Jewish traditional laws. So remember, God gave Moses ten commandments and then in their 40 year journey through the desert, those ten became the basis for 613 Jewish laws. So these Pharisees believe that not only do they have to adhere very strictly to the tenets that God has set forth – but also the tenets that the Jewish leaders have set forth. So I would also say, you know, the Pharisees get a bad rap. I think most people that are faithful to their faith tradition, observant of its laws and its rites and its rituals, I think a lot of us – in that position could be called modern Pharisees. So while we tend to look at the Pharisees and see them as bad guys, I think that's perhaps a bit unfair. The problem with the Pharisees comes when their strict observance becomes observance for itself, not for the glory of God. And I think we all have to be careful of that. Okay, so “the Pharisees gather together to him, [to Jesus] with some of the scribes.” Now, the scribes are students of the law and writers of legal documents. And the scribes are part of the ruling class in the time of Jesus. The scribes think the Pharisees are going too far… the Pharisees think the scribes don't go far enough… but in this section of all of the Gospels…
[00:07:28] when Jesus is making... not making them angry… challenging them is probably a better way to put it… some of them probably did get angry. But he's challenging their beliefs… or they're challenging his teachings – however you want to look at that – but I think in this case, there's a saying that applies very well here: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The scribes and the Pharisees are kind of coming together…
[00:07:52] …and putting Jesus as… and his followers as… a common enemy. So the Pharisees and the scribes, they'd all come from Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, by the way, is 76 miles south of the city of Gennesaret. So this is a long walk! This is a long travel that they undertook to come and speak to Jesus. So they must have thought it was pretty important.
[00:08:18] So they get there and they see that the disciples ate without washing their hands. First, we look at that and say… okay, kind of gross, but what's the big deal? Well, to the observant Jews, especially the Pharisees, that was a big deal! And it goes on to say “For the Pharisees, and all the Jews.” Now, again, remember, they're all Jews! Jesus was a Jew... the Pharisees were Jews… the scribes were Jews… Jesus’ followers were Jews… they're all Jews. So we have to be very careful that we don't use that word to incite improper thoughts, improper feelings… we don't want to engender any anti-Semitism here. That's not the point!
[00:09:02] They're all Jews! Okay, so “the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands.” That practice originates in the book of Exodus, chapter 30. And in Exodus 30, God told Moses specifically, to make a bronze wash bowl for washing hands and feet in the temple.
[00:09:29] That's where all of this practice began.
[00:09:33] Remember, too, the temple – I use that term loosely – because really, what we're referring to there is the Tent of Meeting… remember, they're wandering in the desert.
[00:09:43] If there's anything that's around them all the time, it's sand. Sand, sand and more sand! They have sand on the ground… they have sand blowing through the air… they have sand in their clothes. If you've ever been to the beach, you know, sand gets everywhere! So they are surrounded by sand. So when they come into the Tent of Meeting – which is the place where they encounter God, specifically where the ark of the covenant is – they want… God wants them to be clean and they want to present themselves in a manner appropriate to God. So God told them, okay, make this bronze bowl; wash your hands and your feet when you come in to worship. Okay, good enough. Now, on top of that, then, the Mishnah, which is the Jewish code of law – which is a later development (it dates to around 6-7 BC, codification of it – not the whole thing but actually having it written down on scrolls that could be referenced – that dates to about 6 or 7 BC). And that Mishnah actually describes ritual handwashing outside of the temple. So it started in temple worship and then extended to everything, which really – again… think sand… think beach… think sand everywhere… makes a lot of sense.
[00:11:13] The Pharisees and the scribes are… well, the Pharisees particularly… are kind of scandalized. What the heck? Why are your disciples not following what we're supposed to do? It's not as if it's a modern interpretation of this. As I said, we might look at them and go: oh, they were outside playing, and they didn’t wash their hands and they picked up that sandwich… ooh, that's kind of gross. That's not it. that's not it at all! In our modern parlance, that would be more akin to somebody walking into a wedding dressed in a wet bikini. You know, it just isn't done, right? So it's… it's just beyond the pale. It's beyond what they can tolerate, what they can deal with. Why are they doing that? Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, and in that, they specifically mean the Mishnah, the code - the Jewish code – of law. Why do they not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with their hands defiled? Now, again, think back to what I said about the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that the best and surest way for them to reach heaven was strict, unwavering adherence to all the laws. So they're - in a way - they are saying: hey, listen, you and your followers… you're not doing what God wants you to do… not realizing that, of course, Jesus himself is divine. But… so in a way, they're kind of trying to protect and help Jesus and his followers. So that's one way to look at it. The other way to look at it – and this is where we have to challenge ourselves, too, as we think about our own practices… whether they be religious, whether they be social, whatever practices we may be engaging in - everything has rules. Do we keep those rules, those laws, those governing statutes, because we're told to do it? Which is one possibility. Do we keep them out of fear because we're afraid we're going to be punished? Which is not a good way to do it. Or do we keep them because – really - in our hearts we know that that is the appropriate, correct thing to do? So those three things… we have to look at the things that we do and say: what are our motivations? Remember, that was one of the questions I asked: what motivates our actions in the world? Are our motives pure because we know it's the right thing to do? Are we doing something because we're afraid of retribution or reprisal?
[00:14:10] Or are we doing something because we just do it? We can't even give you a reason for it. We just know we have to do it.
[00:14:17] It's important to explain our motives, our actions, even to ourselves, because what motivates us is important.
[00:14:26] And I think Jesus, given what he says to them, believes that their motives are not pure… because - listen to what he says: “Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites”
[00:14:39] Now, that's not exactly a friendly term. Hypocrites means that your outward conduct doesn't align with your inner heart… with your inner mind… with your own personal motivations. So Jesus, clearly, who can see into their hearts and minds, is calling them hypocrites. Therefore, he already sees what their motivations are.
[00:15:07] And then he quotes from chapter 29 of the Book of the prophet Isaiah: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” In other words, they're giving lip service to the Ten Commandments… they're giving lip service to the Jewish law, the Mishnah… but they don't do it because it means anything to them in particular. It's just an empty gesture.
[00:15:35] That's a problem. He goes on to say in this quote from Isaiah: “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” Okay, let's talk about those two words… doctrine - the word doctrine, in our modern culture, has kind of become ubiquitous… you can have a doctrine of anything.
[00:16:00] In this instance, what Isaiah means - and what Jesus is quoting from Isaiah to mean - is doctrine being what comes directly from God… from the scriptures… from the prophets. Doctrine is immutable. It cannot change because it comes from God. So doctrine should be unchanging. Precepts of men... ooh, now, that's a whole other thing because we all know we - human beings - we are changeable.
[00:16:39] We can flit from one idea to the next. We - if there's anything… how many times have you heard it said, the only thing that's constant is change? Right? So that's typical for human beings. And Jesus is saying, no, no, no… you cannot interchange those two.
[00:16:59] Doctrine is unchanging, immutable from God. The precepts of men – uh uh - those blow with the winds, and they change as quickly as the winds change. So you cannot interchange those two - you cannot exchange one for the other.
[00:17:18] And then he goes on to say it very straightly, very succinctly: “You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” Jesus is not rejecting the law here! It's important you understand. He's not saying that the law shouldn't be followed. He is - the law should be followed! He is rebuking the Pharisees for not upholding it! That is at the heart of this passage. Now, the Jewish dietary laws were great… they were very practical… they prevented any number of illnesses and disease. Bad food can make you ill; poison can make you ill. Especially in biblical times, there were parasites and bacteria in the things that people encountered that could make them - give them a very serious disease. Things that couldn't be treated… remember, they didn't have antibiotics!
[00:18:15] Sometimes olive oil was the only - the best thing they had - or salt. So, they didn't have a way to treat these things so the best thing for them was to avoid them. So that's - very practically speaking - that's important but… when any practice - and this is at the heart of what Jesus is saying here, too - when any practice (even a good one) becomes strictly an empty practice… something you're doing just because you do it… then it loses its value.
[00:18:45] That is at the heart of what Jesus is saying here… to the Pharisees, to the scribes, and to us. Anytime that we allow what we do - those things that motivate us - if they are not from the heart… if they are not authentic… then we have to question why we do them. Jesus called the people to him this time - called the people to him and said to them, “Hear me, all of you.” So now he's not speaking just to his disciples… he's not speaking just to the scribes and Pharisees… he is speaking to everyone that's gathered there… all the people… all of the crowds… hear me and understand.
[00:19:32] So, don't just listen… don't have it go in one ear and out the other. Hear me? Yes, but understand.
[00:19:40] Grasp the concept.
[00:19:42] Understand it and live by it.
[00:19:46] He says, “there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him.” So, Jesus, in one fell swoop, essentially declares all 613 of the dietary laws out… throws them out the window… chucks them right out.
[00:20:06] Because he has now said, nothing external can defile us. That, in and of itself, had to be horribly distressing to the people listening to him. Think about it! They'd been living with these dietary laws since before they entered the promised land. That had to be tremendously difficult. But in that one sentence, he has now said, everything is clean… every type of food is clean… every type of anything.
[00:20:37] Not washing your hands? Doesn't matter. Get a little dirt on it? No big deal… it'll make your immune system stronger. Okay, so… one fell swoop, he has kind of thrown out all of those dietary laws. Not all of the 613 laws are dietary laws, but - I exaggerated.
[00:20:54] But, he goes on then to say, what does defile a person? And it's what's in our hearts. It's what we allow to grow there.
[00:21:08] Do we preserve our hearts for pure motives? Or do we allow corruption to creep in? So, what does he say comes from within? “Evil thoughts”
[00:21:23] It's a pretty big, unspecified category. Okay, we'll kind of let that one go… cause you can use your imagination… that covers just about everything. But then he goes on for some very specific stuff. “Fornication” right? That's a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it actually means - the dictionary definition is - sex outside of marriage. Okay, so… “fornication, theft” and theft begins with greed, right? Whether you're stealing from a bank… whether you're stealing from a neighbor… whether you're stealing from a classmate… doesn't matter. Starts with greed - you want more than your fair share, so you decide you're going to take it because you want it more. “Murder.”
[00:22:08] Pretty clear what that is. “Adultery.”
[00:22:11] Adultery is sex with someone other than one's own spouse, if you are in a marriage. “Coveting.” Coveting is another one of those terms that's thrown around… and do we really understand what it means? Does it mean to… oh, I just I'd love to have that? No, no, no, no! It's not that! It's not wanting something you don't have in a healthy way. No, no. It is an unreasonable, inordinate desire to possess something that someone else already possesses. It's unhealthy.
[00:22:45] It's not just being jealous. It is an inordinate desire for someone else's possessions. So, “coveting, wickedness” - kind of like evil thoughts - wickedness covers a myriad of sins… literally, it explains a myriad of sins. “Deceit.” Deceit is… can be lying… it can be gossip… It can be telling -
[00:23:11] and basically, what is gossip except telling - bad stories about other people, right? So, it could be gossip, but it's based in treachery… it's based in cunning. Now, cunning can be good or bad, so we have to be careful there but cunning - more often than not - has a negative connotation so, these are all bad things. These are bad motivations that we allow to grow within our own hearts. “Licentiousness.” You'd think we would have already covered that with fornication and adultery, but not really.
[00:23:47] It's just unruly sexual behavior… it's any behavior that's outside of the norm for polite society - sexual behavior - let's put it that way.
[00:24:01] Then Jesus also says, “envy.” Envy arises from (another one from) greed but also from stinginess. So, envy is…
[00:24:14] …envy is the step before coveting. So, somebody has… oh, look, they just got a brand new, beautiful Mercedes SUV - boy, I wish I had one of those, man.
[00:24:28] You know, they don't deserve that.
[00:24:32] I'm a better person. I should have that, right? That's envy! “Slander.” Slander is specifically speech that is intended to injure another person or to damage their reputation. So, it's kind of like gossip, only worse… only more so. Gossip can be passing on information: oh, man, did you hear??? I heard… somebody told me that this person did that… or somebody told me that this person engaged in this behavior. You may or may not know - for that - whether or not that is actually true.
[00:25:06] Slander is a whole other story. Slander is when you go out and tell somebody something you know is false, specifically to damage that person's reputation… that’s slander. And then – “pride.”
[00:25:19] You know, pride has been quoted by theologians throughout history as - or designated by theologians throughout history as - the worst of all of the sins because pride often sits at the root of many of our other sins. And pride, of course, is exaggerated self-esteem. Now, is all pride bad? No, not necessarily. You can be proud of your accomplishments… you can be proud of your kids… you can be proud of the job that you've done… you can be proud of a degree that you've earned. Absolutely! That's good. But when pride becomes something that is no longer healthy - when pride becomes destructive of other people or causes you to do destructive actions towards other people - then pride is a sin and it becomes very bad. And then “foolishness.” Of course, foolishness is just mental laziness… not thinking clearly… not even trying to think clearly… not trying to learn… not trying to be a better person, just being plain and simple, foolish. And Jesus concludes with: “all these things come from within, and they defile a man.”
[00:26:38] Now, women, that doesn't mean we're off the hook.
[00:26:41] When Jesus says a man, he means everyone… he means all human beings. So, we have to be just as careful.
[00:26:48] Now, this is by no means a complete list. It's pretty thorough, but it's not complete.
[00:26:56] I'm sure if you thought about it - I'm sure if all of us thought about it - we could think of evil actions, bad actions, that we could add to this list. Jesus wasn't trying to present a list that was complete and total list of everything bad that human beings can do, but it's a good start.
[00:27:22] It does, however, do a good job of revealing the depths of corruption that are possible in the human heart. Pretty sad when you think about it. You know, we think we're good people. At heart, we all think… oh, yeah, we're good people… we don't mean to do bad things. Well, maybe we don't, but we do allow ourselves to do them. So that's… goes back to those motivations again. It goes back - do we want to live with pure hearts? Or do we allow these evil motivations to influence our actions in the world?
[00:27:55] So that leads me to then say, we also need to be cautious about what type of people we surround ourselves with.
[00:28:08] And you all - I'm sure everybody - knows what I mean by that. Everybody had somebody… some individual pop into their mind… and you thought: oh, yeah, I'm not my best self when I'm around that person… or, gosh, whenever I get around that person, we always get in trouble together…. or, ooh, that person's a bad influence on me, right? Everybody has at least one person in their life that you can point to and say: ooh, oh, yeah, that person does not make me the best version of myself. So, we have to think about this! How do we ensure that we - that our motivations and our heart are pure - and who do we surround ourselves with? Who do we associate with?
[00:28:56] So let me just say here that - just as people with good intentions can get together and accomplish wonderful things - when you get enough people together with bad intentions, they can create havoc in the world!
[00:29:15] So, what are our motivations? What do we allow to grow within our hearts?
[00:29:22] Are they things that defile us? Or are they things that purify us? Are they things that make us better people? And who do we surround ourselves with?
[00:29:33] Do we allow ourselves to associate with people we know are not going to be good for us? Or do we push that off to the side and say - you know what? I'm going to make a conscious choice to surround myself with people that make me a better person.
[00:29:51] Okay, our First Reading is from the book of Deuteronomy. It's Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8.
[00:30:01] “Moses spoke to the people: ‘And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.’”
[00:30:19] “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you.”
[00:30:30] “Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’”
[00:30:46] “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?”
[00:31:09] The name Deuteronomy is often taken to mean second law, but – actually - repetition of the law is a better translation of the word. It's not a recounting of past events, but a program for the future.
[00:31:28] The Book of Deuteronomy is about reform and restoration. It's looking at the past, certainly, to see where the people have come from, where we've come from, with an eye to the future. So, what's our destination? And how are we going to use where we've been to set the program - to set our map… to set our destination… our goal… for where we want to be now. The book is basically one grand sermon by Moses to the Israelites before they enter the promised land.
[00:32:03] And it's divided into four separate addresses. This section of Deuteronomy is the conclusion of the first address. It includes a reminder of what God has done for the Israelites and what they, in turn, must observe as God's faithful, chosen people. So Moses, in this grand…
[00:32:27] …now, this is chapter 4, so this first address has been going on for a while… and he says he's bringing this first address to its conclusion. “And now, O Israel” - now people – “give heed to the statutes and ordinances which I teach you and do them” - not just… (again, it's like Jesus said, hear and understand)
[00:32:46] … not just listen to them. Yes, listen to them, but do them… observe them… keep them… live them. You cannot separate those two things.
[00:33:00] And he says, why?
[00:33:02] “That you may live.” That you may live! That you may prosper! You will have future generations - this is the promise that God gave you. This is the promise that God gave to Abraham: a land and future generations and blessing. Those were the three promises that God made to Abraham.
[00:33:21] So the people, they're ready to go into the promised land, and they're ready to take up all of the promises that God has given them. So “take possession of [this] land” - the promised land – “which the LORD, the God of your fathers” - and remember God himself, when he spoke to Moses, when he spoke to Abraham, he said, I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. NOT I was….
[00:33:46] I AM! I AM! So, “the God of your fathers” - your forefathers - and he goes on to say, “you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it.”
[00:33:59] Okay, so it seems like Moses is saying here you have to live up to the letter of the law all the time.
[00:34:10] I wish it were that simple.
[00:34:12] It's not! Because - what did we encounter in Mark's Gospel but Jesus saying: nothing that comes from outside will defile a man. So he, as I said, in one sentence throws out all the dietary laws. So remember - keep in mind - what the prophet Isaiah then will eventually say: do not interchange the ordinance of God with the precepts of man. So basically, that's kind of hundreds and hundreds of years before Moses saying the same thing! Don't add to it… don't put your own spin on it… don't put your own interpretation on it… but don't take away from it either. Keep to the basis of what I've told you of what God has told you - of the laws he's given you and live those. Why are you doing that? “That you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” In other words, I brought them down from the top of Mount Sinai… I gave them to you… now it's your responsibility to live them. And remember - I'm gonna say it again - observance of the law is a lived experience.
[00:35:18] It is tending the law… it is protecting the law… it's being vigilant… to make sure that our motives are correct, that what forms our motivations are pure and done out of the love of God, not out of fear, not out of empty ritual, but done for the right reasons. And most importantly, it's also done through passing that on - teaching the next generation and preparing the next generation to be faithful.
[00:35:50] So he goes on to say, “keep them and do them” - lived observance.
[00:35:59] “For that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples” - and these are other nations! They are going into, as we learn, hostile territory… they are going into the land of Canaan, but that land’s already occupied.
[00:36:17] So they have to be better! And that example has to be better! What they do - their motivations for what they do - those all have to be better because they’re God’s chosen people!
[00:36:29] And when they live that way - when they live that way - what are people going to say? “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” Oh, don't you wish that everybody said that about all of us? Wouldn't that be nice?
[00:36:43] But they go on - these other nations - will go on to say, “for what great nation is there that has a god so near as the LORD [their] God is to [them]?” What other people are the chosen people? Well, the answer is none, right? The answer is none! So you are the chosen people… God dwells with you.
[00:37:04] Live according to that promise! Live up to that example that God has set you to put before the nations. Live up to it! So the upshot, of course, is everyone who hears and understands the words of God are called to respond and to follow God's statutes and commandments, not just then, but today and every day.
[00:37:35] Now I'm going to challenge you with something else.
[00:37:39] Go look at the Gospel of Mark… and then look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20… and then look at the Greatest Commandment (which is in the Gospels but it's based on love of God in Deuteronomy 6 and love of others in Leviticus 19)… and go through that list of things that defile a man, that Jesus delineated - that he went through item by item - and compare those to the Ten Commandments and the Greatest Commandment (which of course is love God and love neighbor) and I dare you to find one of them - even one of them - that isn't breaking, in some way, the laws that God has set for us. So again, important to think about… and important to look at… and important to live - to hear and understand - to know and to keep, to do.
[00:38:39] All right… the Psalm this week is Psalm 15.
[00:38:42] The response for the Psalm is: “he who walks blamelessly will sojourn in the tent of the LORD.” And here are the verses:
[00:38:52] “He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart; who does not slander with his tongue. Who does no evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD. Who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”
[00:39:21] Pretty easy, so far, to tell why Deuteronomy and this Psalm were paired with the Gospel. They all work together so well - they all reinforce each other - and this Psalm is actually a Liturgical Hymn… but it recounts all of the good things - all of those good motivations that we should have - and it talks about observing the law and living it. This is a Liturgical Hymn, and the Torah (which is the first five books of the Bible) is full of liturgical instructions.
[00:39:54] So liturgy is clearly something that's important to God but… not for his sake, but for ours. It helps keep us on the right track. In our last reading today - will be our Second Reading at the Mass on Sunday - it's from the letter of Saint James 1: 17-18, 21b-22, 27. “Dearest brothers and sisters: every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”
[00:40:44] “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
[00:40:57] “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit widows and orphans in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Short and sweet. Okay, so let's take this apart a little bit. First of all, when we hear the letter from James, we always think immediately of the apostle… but it's not James - it's not one of the apostles - he never identifies himself as such.
[00:41:31] This author is most likely the James that's mentioned in Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians as the leader of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and a relative of Jesus.
[00:41:44] This letter was written about 90 - 100 AD and it's James’ - his letter - focuses on actions… and that's probably pretty clear from what I read. This will be the 1st of 5 passages that we will hear from James over the next 5 weeks, so let's jump into it a little bit more. “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above” - from heaven - “coming down from the Father of lights” - from God (God the Father) - “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Again - he's immutable… he is unchanging… he is eternal. And God is the source of everything that is good. And God's love for humanity is constant. That's something we cannot ever lose sight of.
[00:42:43] “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” - so Jesus is the logos (however you want to pronounce it) … he is the word - the word spoken by God that brought everything into being - “that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” In other words, we are the best and brightest, is kind of what James is saying here. Don't we wish we always were?
[00:43:11] Wouldn't it be nice if we always were what we've been told we should be? We aren't!
[00:43:18] We don't always live up to what we know we should do. But the important part is we should always strive to be that, right? So, we're intended to be first fruits. And then he goes on - remember I said James' focus is on action – “be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
[00:43:41] This is clear! This has been through every one of the readings. It was in the Gospel, right?
[00:43:49] Don't just listen to what I say… do it, live it! Deuteronomy… Moses says: hear and understand… live, right? So “be doers of the word and not hearers only.” Because if all we do is hear and we don't act on it, we are deceiving ourselves… we are deluding ourselves… we are misleading ourselves.
[00:44:10] If we hear God's word and don't act on it… we don't live it…
[00:44:16] … we are kidding ourselves if we think we're being good Christians because we're not! We have to hear AND do. What did Jesus say at the Last Supper in John's Gospel? I have given you an example to follow.
[00:44:29] Don't just listen to me… do what I do.
[00:44:33] And then James goes on to say, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father” - so Jesus (God the Son) … God the Father – “is this.”
[00:44:43] Then he gives something very specific: “to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.”
[00:44:50] Now, that meant a whole lot to James - in this time that it was written about 100 AD.
[00:44:57] Orphans had no… there were no safety nets… there was nothing in society that would take care of a child if their parents died - the child was on their own. If the child was an infant… if the child was 5… if the child was 10… if the child was 15… doesn't matter - they were on their own. Unless they had relatives to take them in - and then they had to do it out of the goodness of their heart.
[00:45:19] Widows, if their husband died, they had no social safety net… they were on the outskirts of society. So what James is telling us TODAY is that we have to reach out to the outcast, to those on the margins, those on the margins of society… in our society! The sick, the imprisoned, the homeless, the jobless, the runaway, the person suffering in body, mind, or spirit, the person who's afflicted with mental health issues… however we encounter someone who is on the margins - WE have to visit them in their affliction. It doesn't mean just stop in and say hi… it means spend time with them - be doers of the word… follow Jesus example… and “keep oneself unstained from the world.” In other words, do not conform to the vagaries of the world or of our human culture. We all know things change...
[00:46:34] mores change… morals change… what's acceptable and what's unacceptable… that changes every year.
[00:46:42] Just like fashions, just like music trends, everything changes! Don't allow yourselves to be caught up solely in that. Not that the world is bad but - follow God's example first.
[00:46:59] The Christian community shows its true relationship with God by reaching out - by visiting - by reaching out to the least important! Not the most important… not the most influential… not the most powerful… we are measured by how we treat those that are considered to be least important.
[00:47:24] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, please send me an email at
[email protected]. Thank you for listening and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
[00:47:44] From His Word to Our Hearts is a production of SFS Audio solutions. The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask. The music is composed by Jimmy Flask and used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved. Information regarding references used in the preparation of this podcast is available upon request. Thank you for listening and God bless.
