THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Tuesday of the fifth week in Ordinary time, 2022

1Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30

Ps 84

Mark 7:1-13

God's Commandment or human tradition

In this morning’s gospel (Mk 7:1-13), the disciples of Jesus are criticized for not respecting the tradition of the elders. Jesus defends his disciples by declaring that what is more important than human religious tradition is the commandment of God or the word of God. 

Jesus seems to be saying that God can never be fully contained within any religious tradition no matter how revered. We need religious traditions to help us to give expression to our relationship with God, our faith. However, there comes a time when traditional ways of expressing our faith need reform or renewal. Within the Roman Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council was a moment when the church looked critically at its various religious traditions with a view to discerning which of them gave expression to God’s word, God’s commandment, and which did not. 

Just as in the gospel reading, Jesus declares that God cannot be contained within human traditions, so in the first reading (1kgs 8:22-23,27-30) King Solomon who was responsible for the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem recognizes that God cannot be contained within the Temple, ‘Why the heavens and their heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!’ Both readings remind us that God is always greater than anything the human religious spirit can create. God is always beyond us and we are always seekers in God’s regard. 

As Christians, we believe that Jesus has uniquely revealed the face of God and that the God whom we are seeking has sought us out in the person of Jesus, his Son.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, let the fire of your Holy Spirit cleanse my mind and my heart that I may love you purely and serve you worthily. Amen

+Remain blessed