DGeMs- Daily Gospel eMessage
Dear Friend in the Lord,
Rituals and Sanctity: In today’s Gospel, Jesus reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites. They observe religious rituals meticulously, but their hearts were empty of their love for God and their neighbours. Ponder on, “Our rituals of worshipping God should be deepened by the witness of living the Gospel daily.”
Fr Philip Heng, S.J.
Mark 7:1-2, 5-8
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow. So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’
He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless; the doctrines they teach are only human regulations. You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’