Having observed that Jesus’ disciples were not complying with the religious purification laws of the time which required one to wash one’s hands thoroughly before eating, the Pharisees challenged Jesus once again.

Not following those laws meant that the disciples were eating with hands that were deemed to be “unclean” or “impure”. The Pharisees were infuriated Jesus appeared to be unconcerned about this matter of ritual purification.

“You hypocrites,” Jesus replied. “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” The hand-washing law, he implied, is a human tradition, a man-made regulation. Jesus threw the challenge back at them: ritual purity is not a matter of cleaning one’s hands, he insists, but of purity of heart! He explains: “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

By Jesus’ time, the rabbis had identified 613 commands that were prescribed in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), not just the 10 commandments given to Moses. It was the impossible burden of compliance with all 613 commands that prompted the Pharisees, on another occasion, to ask Jesus which was the greatest commandment.

With simplicity and clarity, he replied: love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. It is love that is commanded of us as his followers.

Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders also applies to us and to the Church in our time. Jesus firstly challenges all of us as Church to reflect very carefully on the rules and regulations we set before people. Are they God’s commandments? Or are they human constructs? Are they in fact burdens that we have imposed on people? Might some of our rules and regulations actually impede people’s progress on their faith journey? The rules may be well-intentioned, but they might also be misguided, not in fact closely aligned to God’s commands.

Jesus leaves us in no doubt as to what really matters: it is what is in and comes from our hearts. It is, as the Psalmist says, a matter of justice. “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” Here is the benchmark! It is justice.

Justice pertains to the way we live our daily lives, how we relate to others; it is right judgement, right intention and right action in all of our dealings.

What I want, says God to the prophet Hosea, is mercy. As Jesus stressed, it is a pure heart that is demanded of us; a heart that lives justly, shows mercy, responds compassionately and loves tenderly. The Letter of James echoes the same message: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”                                                                                                 

Anne Hunt

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