22 Sunday Ordinary Time, year B | Deut 4:1-2, 6-8; Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
We have all probably heard the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.” Humanity could perhaps be compared to Humpty Dumpty. It has fallen and broken into pieces. Our society and even our Church seems quite divided. This separation appears to be growing. Can we be put back together again?
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| By Denslow's_Humpty_Dumpty.djvu: W. W. Denslowderivative work: Theornamentalist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
At the core of the Gospel (from Mark 7), is the following question: what separates a person or group of people from God and the rest of the community? In other words, what break us apart and creates division? The answer hinges upon the important - but complicated - concepts clean/unclean and pure/defiled (for an overview, see Fr. Neyrey, SJ). Put simply, if you were considered unclean or defiled, then you were considered unfit to worship God and were separated from the community. If, on the other hand, you were deemed clean or pure, then you would be deemed fit to worship God and be a part of the community. Although there are numerous reasons why you could be considered defiled, two are especially important for the Gospel. First, you would be considered unclean if you violated one of the numerous dietary laws (cf. Lev 11) - what can and cannot be eaten - that were given by God through Moses. As the first reading from Deuteronomy makes clear, observing God’s laws is imperative. Second, some argued that if you violated one of the Traditions of the Elders, then you were unclean. The Tradition of the Elders were a collection of detailed laws of human origin (i.e. not found in the Law of Moses). The Gospel mentions some of the Traditions of the Elders that were held in great importance by the scribes and Pharisees, for example, the washing of hands before a meal and the purification of cups and other utensils. The Pharisees accused the disciples of violating the Tradition of the Elders, thereby making themselves unclean, which would have made them unfit to worship God and separated them from the community.
Jesus’ teaching about what makes someone clean/unclean reveals something very important about how he understood his identity. There is a certain argument out there that goes as follows (e.g. see here). Jesus never claimed to be God. He saw himself as a prophet or teacher. Sure, there are some texts in which Jesus claims Divinity (e.g. Jn 8:58), but these are late texts and reflect more the beliefs of later followers of Jesus rather than Jesus himself. Today’s Gospel, taken from Mark, which is generally considered to be the oldest of the Gospels, argues against this. Jesus’ actions manifest his self understanding. First, Jesus saw himself as a teacher who had the authority to challenge the validity of the Tradition of the Elders. Elsewhere in Mark 7, Jesus shows how following the Tradition of the Elders can lead people to transgress the commandments of God (Mk 7:9-13). Jesus, however, goes further than this. Jesus says, “nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Since this goes against the dietary laws that were passed down from God through Moses, here Jesus is claiming the authority to revise the law of God. Although in Mark’s Gospel (unlike in John’s) Jesus never explicitly says he is the one God of Israel, we have here a clear example of how Jesus’ actions show that he understood he was the very embodiment of God’s presence walking the earth. God’s law can only be changed by God himself.
Jesus, the very embodiment of God, teaches us that we become unclean/defiled and therefore separated from God and others on account of malicious thoughts, words and actions that originate within ourselves and are directed towards others. We are not separated from God and others on account of what we eat, or on account of some “human tradition”. Rather, it is what comes from within, our hateful thoughts, words and actions that make us unclean/defiled. This is what creates divisions between us and God and within the community. This is an important message because we can all consider individuals to be separated from God or the community on account of some “human tradition”. We have replaced the Pharisees’ concern for the washing of cups, jugs and kettles with other preoccupations. We can consider people “defiled” on account of the political party they ascribe to, the news they watch, the country they are from (or, more specifically, the part of a country or even city they are from), the school they went to, the job they have or even the sports team they support. Within the Church we create division between ourselves and others because they are too conservative or too liberal, too traditional or too progressive or because they are or are not part of a particular group or movement. In the Gospel, Jesus invites us focus on what truly causes division: cruel thoughts, words and actions that we direct towards others.
An important principle follows from Jesus teaching. If malicious thoughts, words and actions create division, then it follows that loving thoughts, words and deeds create unity. “All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again”. Jesus, who we have seen in the Gospel is God, can put us back together. He has shown us both what breaks us apart and divides us, as well as how we can work to put together the broken pieces of humanity. Unity or division begins within the heart of each on of us and is furthered by our words and actions. Today we can ask ourselves whether we will add to the division in the world, or help build unity.
