Overview:

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

After Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
The Pharisee was amazed to see
that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,and behold, everything will be clean for you.” (Lk 11:37-41)

Find today’s readings here.

What hath Kirk Gibson to do with Jerusalem? 

Tertullian asked a different question, but I promise, my version is pertinent to today’s Gospel. And it’s appropriate in a way, because October is World Series season: It was 37 years ago tomorrow that a hobbled Kirk Gibson hit arguably the most famous home run in baseball history to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a Game One victory in the 1988 World Series. 

Gibson was a newcomer to the Dodgers in 1988, a free agent who joined an organization that had a reputation for being squeaky-clean—or at least trying to appear so. My hero as a child had been Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, whose nickname was literally “Mr. Clean,” even if his private life later turned out to be somewhat more complicated. He was gone by 1988, but the dominant pitcher for the Dodgers that season was Orel Hershiser, an incredible competitor who nonetheless looked and talked a bit like popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher. Hershiser was once caught on camera—I’m not making this up—singing church hymns in the dugout.

Gibson, on the other hand, was an animal, ever unshaven and ill-tempered and in the habit of snarling at teammates and opponents alike. Remember Tom Monaghan, the Detroit Tigers owner, pizza magnate and founder of Legatus? He once denounced Gibson, his former star player, as “a disgrace to the Tiger uniform.” On the field, Gibson was usually nursing an injury caused by his crash-into-anything playing style (he once scored from second on a wild pitch), and his uniform was consistently filthy, sometimes bloody. 

But Gibson took a Dodgers team mired in mediocrity to an improbable World Series championship and became the toast of Tinseltown—in part because he taught his teammates that appearances don’t mean much if you haven’t the will to win. And all Gibson wanted to do was win.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that winning was all Jesus wanted. But you see the parallel with Jesus’ behavior at the dinner table in today’s Gospel reading. He doesn’t wash his hands—ignoring not only basic standards of hygiene but also a religious purity code. He also offends his host in the process. All in all, not an Emily Post performance for a guest in someone’s home—and not helped by calling his host a fool. 

What is Jesus after in this startling scene? He has a blunt message that probably all of us need to hear early and often: The appearance of cleanliness and purity is less important than “what is within,” and it doesn’t do any good to be squeaky-clean if “inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” Because what is going to get results in each of our quests for holiness and right relationship with God is what is within us. Sure, observing rules around hygiene and proper religious practice are important—but they’re certainly not the point. We see Jesus send the same message in other ways throughout the Gospels—in what he eats, in whom he eats with and decides to spend his time with.

So by all means, keep washing your hands. But also remember that the Kingdom of God belongs first and foremost to the ones with the dirty uniforms.

James T. Keane is a Senior Editor at America.