There are certain scriptural passages that I have struggled with throughout the years, as I’m sure is also the case with anyone who takes time to prayerfully read scripture. The books of the Bible were written many centuries ago, and therefore sometimes there are things that are lost in translation or authors whose meaning is not readily apparent to us. This weekend’s Gospel provides one such difficult passage for me in Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees. He responds to their criticism of his disciples eating with unwashed hands by pointing out their unwashed and impure souls.
 
To be sure, it is not the response of Jesus with which I take issue; I just think it’s disgusting that his disciples would eat with unwashed hands. They walked all over the countryside and probably would have been filthy by the time the evening meal came around. One would think that Jesus would call them to have a clean soul and clean hands, but maybe that’s just me.
 
What today’s Gospel does help us understand is two different approaches to sin and the law and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Jesus is critical of the Pharisees for their slavish attention to the exact letter and details of the law because they simultaneously neglect the spirit of the law and the needs of their brother. Their obsession with being technically correct doesn’t lead to true charity or concern for the material and spiritual needs of their brothers and sisters. It only leads to a spirit of superiority; as though they have everything figured out, and they don’t have to worry about others.
 
Meanwhile, Jesus is much more concerned with the interior spiritual effects of our exterior practices. He isn’t opposed to hand washing or other external rites of the law as much as he is opposed to how they can draw someone’s focus in entirely on themselves. Any true theory of morality has to take into account the effects it has on a person internally.
 
The danger lies in forgetting either the law or mercy. It’s easy to know when we’ve broken the letter of the law, but it’s more difficult to say for sure when we are developing an attitude that is bad for our moral life. We can’t be satisfied with following the letter of the law, but we also can’t justify things that we know are sinful by telling ourselves that we’re basically good people, so it’s okay.
 
As we meditate upon this Gospel this week, I encourage everyone to take the time out of their schedule to do two things. First, to find a good examination of conscience and get into the habit of looking back on our day with the Lord so we can ask how we could have done better, and how we will try to do so tomorrow. Second, to bring those failures, either of the letter of the law or of the spirit, to the foot of the Cross in confession. Jesus is always waiting for us in the Sacraments, prepared to give us the grace we need to become the Saints he is calling us to be. Do not pass up the opportunity.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McCullough