Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 8:22-23.27-30; Mark 7:1-11)
Is cleanliness next to Godliness? We used to say so, but the gospel today may give us second thoughts. Jesus spurns the Pharisees and scribes for adhering to purity traditions that ensure the fulfillment of the Law while ignoring the intent of the Law. The Law purports to guide people to virtue. As interpreted by the men who come to Jesus in the gospel today, it makes people contemptuous.
Still Eucharistic ministers are given pause when they see a child extend dirty hands to receive the Body of Christ. Are these ministers contemptuous if they lecture the little one afterwards about the need to wash one’s hands before receiving Communion? This is hardly so since they suspect with good reason that the child is careless or, at least, uninstructed about what he or she is doing. Jesus admonishes the Pharisees in the gospel for similar shallowness.
So is cleanliness next to Godliness? It is when we are talking of cleanliness of heart. In the heart we fit our actions to our religious beliefs. We must take care to do this without allowing contempt or any other vice to defile our efforts.
