In this week's edition of "There's more in the Gospel than meets the Eye," Jill Bevilacqua
and Seàn-Patrick Lovett bring us readings and reflections for the 22nd Sunday of the
Year. Listen:
GospelMk
7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come
from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples
ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. --For the Pharisees
and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping
the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not
eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have
traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.
-- So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow
the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" He responded, "Well
did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship
me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God's commandment but
cling to human tradition."
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear
me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile
that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.
"From
within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All
these evils come from within and they defile."