22nd Sunday of Year B – 2024
In our moments of lucidity and honesty, we are usually ready to admit that…
there is often quite a gap between what we say and what we do!
Our way of acting does not always match our way of speaking…
This is true of many people and shows itself in all kinds of situations.
This thought came to me as I read the gospel text of this celebration (Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23).
We hear Jesus say clearly:
“These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me”.
His words are an echo of what, long before, the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed in the name of God (Isaiah 29:13).
God had already told the people of Israel that he was not satisfied with their repeating religious formulas and performing rituals.
He wanted them to behave as his people, a people faithful to his commands.
He expected them to follow his ways, treating their neighbors as he, God, treats each one of them.
Hundreds of years later, Jesus must repeat the same teaching to correct the attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees.
They are concerned with their own traditions, “human prescriptions’, focusing on small matters, while forgetting the great commandment of love for God and for other people.
It may be that… we also need to hear these words…
It may be necessary to listen to Jesus himself reminding us of… God’s priority!
This is where our ‘heart’ should be!
It is possible that we are more concerned with being attentive to small details and regulations that WE consider important, while leaving aside GOD’S obvious choice of genuine love in action.
We may need to be brought back from pious words to the faithful carrying out of what God asks of us…
Some will say: “It is a difference of perspective”.
It is indeed, but it is much more than that!
It is about the transformation of our thoughts and ways to take on God’s thoughts and God’s ways.
An on-going process… an ever-needed progress…
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/22e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2024/
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