A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions
Find today’s readings here.
“You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition… You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.” (Mk 7:8,13)
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, seems to be filled with laws. God is a God of mercy, yes, but also one of justice, and that means that we need to follow certain precepts to do God’s will.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites who often follow the laws to the letter, rather than adhering to the idea behind the law.
Catholics do not need to follow the 613 laws that God gave to the Jewish people, like requirements about circumcision, not mixing dairy and meat or abstaining from pork. It is difficult to follow all of these laws, even for the most observant Jews today. But why is this so, when both the Ten Commandments, which we follow, and the Levitical laws about cleanliness, which we do not observe, please God in the Old Testament?
The Ten Commandments are how-to-be-a-good-person laws that are applicable at all times and for all people. The laws laid out throughout the Old Testament, however, were created to prepare the people of God for the coming of the Messiah, making sure that they were more pure and holy. Now that Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law, has come, Catholics do not observe all the laws. This is part of what Jesus was trying to get across to the scribes and Pharisees, that his disciples do not need to ritually cleanse themselves before eating because that was a law for the world before the Messiah.
Jesus also rebukes them because they see following the law itself as more important than the meaning behind the law.
As Catholics today, I’m not sure how many problems we have with following Jewish law instead of the law laid out by Jesus. But I can see myself having a lot more problems with being the one enforcing the letter of the law just as the Pharisees do, and for which Jesus calls them out. There are nuances and depths to God’s mercy that none of us can fathom, and we do not need to pass judgment on others.
