(Chapter 4:1-2, 6-8)
This is an important moment in the history of Israel. God establishes a Covenant with the people through Moses and gives them the Law which was not a purely external, juridical thing but rather was meant to be in their hearts. Moses warns the people on the Lord’s behalf, “you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.” But by the time of Jesus, there were so many add-ons to the Law that Jesus challenged religious leaders for placing a yoke on the shoulders of the people that God never intended. In contrast, Jesus said, “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” For the past fifty years, the Church has moved slowly away from rules, such as abstinence from meat on Fridays, so as to focus our attention more on the basic message of Jesus: Love God and one another, and believe in the reign of God that Jesus came to make present.
Responsorial Psalm
(Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5)
The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” Injustice has been present in every society, and it is present today in our own country. There are always those who oppress and cheat others. We are called to live justly and speak up for those who are oppressed and treated unjustly.
A reading from the Letter of James
(Chapter 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27)
James has a strong, challenging message. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.” It is not enough to only hear God’s word. We must act on it. How? He tells us: “Religion that is pure and undefiled is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Widows and orphans were often the poorest people in society and so needed special care. They represented others who were also poor and who also suffered physical, emotional, or mental illnesses. The early Christian community kept to this calling, and most of our churches do today, individually and collectively. It is the responsibility of the Christian community and each of us to leave no one behind.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
(Chapter 7:1-8, 15-15, 21-23)
At the time of Jesus, there were some 613 commands in Jewish religious law, most of which were not in the Torah or Law that God gave to Moses. Several of these commands had to do not so much with cleanliness but with ritual purity. Jesus and his disciples did not observe all these burdensome commands, and that was one of many reasons that the Scribes and Pharisees wanted Jesus gone. He challenged the burdensome authority that they exercised on people. Jesus argued that “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile the person, but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Then he mentions several things that come from within a person that defile: “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly.” It sounds like a list from today’s tabloids, but we can become so used to it that we take it for granted or rail against it to no effect. The message of Jesus is love, accepting his gift of unconditional love, living it in our lives, and standing up for justice, especially for the poor and oppressed, and seeking God’s mercy as well as showing mercy to others.
Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
Bill Ayres was a founder, with the late singer Harry Chapin, of WhyHunger. He has been a radio and TV broadcaster for 40 years and has two weekly Sunday-night shows on WPLJ, 95.5 FM in New York. He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Centerport, New York.