Submitting to the Shape

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Readings: Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8; Psalm 14 (15): 2-5; James 1: 17-18, 21-22, 27; Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Picture: By Benjamin Voros on Unsplash

My dear friends, what is the shape of water? This is obviously a trick question, right? For we know that water takes on the shape of whichever container it happens to be poured into. But even if water doesn’t have its own shape, it does have a distinct purity. It can be polluted by impurities found in its container, which can interfere with water’s ability to fulfil its different functions. Badly polluted water can no longer be used for quenching thirst, or sustaining life. It may even endanger public health. Which is why it’s important to keep water containers clean. And to do this, we rely on yet another function of water, its ability to purify… The shifting shape, the distinct purity, and the different functions of water. It’s helpful to keep all these in mind, because we find something similar in our scriptures today.

When the word of God is poured into the people of Israel in the first reading, it takes on a particular shape. It is received as a set of laws and customs, commandments of the Lord. Which are meant to fulfil various functions. By carefully observing the Law, the Israelites will allow themselves to be moulded into God’s own people. They will live a full life in the Promised Land. They will also demonstrate to their gentile neighbours how good and how wise is the God they worship, as well as how close God is to them. By keeping the Law, the Israelites will both enrich their lives, and glorify God’s name.

So the Law is not intended to be a crushing burden, but a precious gift. A blessing, not just for the Israelites, but also for the gentile nations among whom they live. As the second reading reminds us, it is all that is good and everything that is perfect, which is given to us from above. Unfortunately, the Israelites fail to maintain the purity of the Law. Over time, their leaders allow their observance of the Law to be polluted by worldly concerns, tainted by the craving for power and money, security and control. And the second reading teaches us how to recognise when pollution like this occurs, by reminding us that, in addition to its other functions, religion is also an expression of mercy. Pure, unspoilt religion… is… coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it. Much like how God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and led them into the freedom of the Promised Land. In contrast, just as contaminated water loses its ability to sustain life, so too does polluted religion fail to show mercy. On the contrary, it leads to oppression. Both the material oppression of the poor and vulnerable, as well as the spiritual oppression of the rich and self-sufficient. Polluted religion results in the sacrifice of human life and wellbeing.

Thankfully, out of God’s infinite mercy, the word of God is again poured into our world, more generously than ever before. Appearing among us no longer in the form of mere legal pronouncements, but in the shape of a living human person. Someone humble and secure enough in God’s love to resist every form of pollution. And just as water can be used to cleanse contaminated containers, so too does Jesus purify the perverted religion practised in his day. In the gospel, he does this by uncovering the hypocrisy of certain external religious observances, and tracing them back to their origins in the human heart. If the Pharisees and scribes abuse religion by turning it into just another way to line their pockets and inflate their egos, it is only because their hearts are filled with impurities like anxiety and avarice, which hinder them from truly accepting and submitting to God’s word. For it is from within human hearts that evil intentions emerge, rendering even outwardly pious practices unclean.

Actually the dangers of polluted religion should come as no surprise to us. We see its tragic effects all around our world, most obviously in outbreaks of religiously motivated violence. But if these deadly fruits of pollution are truly rooted in the evil intentions within human hearts, then more than simply lamenting and denouncing polluted religion in others, don’t we need to also seek to uncover it in ourselves? By prayerfully examining the sincerity of our external actions, and the dispositions of our own hearts. As well as by gauging the extent to which our religious observance translates into actual expressions of mercy shown to those who suffer, including those closest to us, as well as creation itself. But we need to do this with great care. For if it is true that all that is good originates not from us, but from above, then the power to purify our hearts can come to us only as God’s merciful gift. Which God already bestows upon us so abundantly in Christ. What is left for us to do is to beg God for the willingness to humbly accept this gift, even if it may sometimes appear in inconvenient shapes. Such as the call to change our lifestyles in the direction of greater sustainability.

Sisters and brothers, what particular shape or shapes is God’s mercy taking in our lives today?