22nd Sunday Year B - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2006

One problem facing Jesus - and later on, Mark’s community - was a problem not peculiar simply to Pharisees, but to all people who take religion seriously.  Jesus had real problems with Pharisees precisely because they took their religion seriously. Unlike a lot of others, they cared about what Jesus was saying and doing - because he did in fact behave differently, indeed, critically.  He was a problem for them. Jesus criticised the traditional ways in which many things were done. They were concerned enough to see that, and to feel it strongly.

Why did he have trouble with their loyalty to time-honoured traditions?  Basically because the detail had become more important than the essential. It had become important in itself.  What mattered for them was how things have always been done. But the why had often become lost from view in the process.

Why did some Pharisees, some Jews, get hung up on dietary regulations? Why, like them, do a lot of people get hung up on procedural issues? on the ways things are done?  There are a variety of reasons, I believe.

Regulations are clear and specific; their observance – or otherwise – is clearly seen, whereas values and attitudes are not so precise or so visible. For example, if a person genuflects before the Blessed Sacrament, it is specific; it’s visible. Whereas what their inner attitude towards Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament – where their heart is - may not be clear or visible. Because the ways of doing things are specific and clear, they can absorb our attention.

As well, noticeable, visible, different behaviours easily identify people. In the old days, Catholics would not eat meat on Fridays. They wouldn’t eat after midnight if they were going to Communion the next day. People knew they were Catholics.  And just as Sunday Mass, Friday abstinence, fasting from midnight, identified Catholics to others, it also gave Catholics a sense of identity and of belonging. It strengthened their sense of who was and who wasn’t.

Whether Catholics deeply respected the human dignity of others, whether they loved their neighbour, was not so clear and identifiable – and certainly didn’t identify them, whether to themselves or to others. Because they weren’t what was easily noticed, they weren’t necessarily seen as so important.

Yet Jesus insisted that what mattered was what is going on in the heart. That will have some practical expressions – as Jesus noted: theft, murder, adultery – that are easily seen. But it’s often less noticeable whether people’s hearts are governed by pride, avarice, folly, etc., (especially if that’s what the rest of the world is up to) or instead by mercy, compassion and justice.

Let’s forget about the Pharisees for a moment and focus on ourselves. What are some of the things that most upset some people in the Church today? What upsets, worries you?  Perhaps people not coming to Mass, or the lack of the usual signs of respect and reverence in Church, or some of the ways in which Mass is celebrated. Do we ask why Mass is so important?

Well … Jesus asked us to remember him this way, to remember his death and resurrection, not just that they happened, but why they happened.  Why did he die? Why was he killed? Because he insisted that people, societies, synagogues recognise and respect the inherent dignity of every person simply because they are precious to God and loved by God. Do we get worried much by what worried Jesus?

The followers of Jesus are not conspicuous for their stand for justice – like Jesus.  Are our hearts in sync with the heart of Jesus? Is our priority that of Jesus? As he said on one occasion: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.  I sometimes wonder if we as Catholics were particularly noted for our relentless and consistent insistence on justice for all, in our own nation, in our globalising world, would there be more people joining us at Mass? or fewer?