"You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."
Mark 7:8
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees here about their complaining the disciples didn't go through the ritual washings before eating. There were a couple of excellent reflections on this Gospel today which made it so much clearer to me. First, in "Give Us This Day," Richard Reece, talks about "empty rituals," that is, rituals that may have had some deep meaning for us at some point, but now we do them mindlessly and without the love they were meant to inspire. Isn't that the truth? How often have we mindlessly done the Sign of the Cross while entering church, without giving it the true prayer-ness it deserves? Let's not let our prayer rituals become meaningless! They must be done with deep and reverent love for God! And second, on "Pray-As-You-Go," they asked how one tells the difference between God's commandment and human tradition? Good question! Sometimes, they blend together in our minds. When thinking about that, I immediately go to what Jesus actually did and said while he walked among us. Was Jesus inclusive? What did he say about the poor? How did Jesus treat people? Jesus lived God's commandments and showed us how to do it. We have the perfect example in Jesus. Love, heidi
No comments:
Post a Comment