Purity of Heart

 

Homily on Mark 7:1-23: "Purity of Heart"

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today, we reflect on a challenging passage from the Gospel of Mark.

This scripture invites us to examine the true nature of holiness and what it means to live a life pleasing to God.

The scene opens with the Pharisees and some scribes confronting Jesus.

They've noticed that his disciples are eating with "defiled" hands – that is, they haven't performed the ritual washing prescribed by tradition.

This might seem trivial to us, but for the religious leaders of the time, it was a serious matter.

Jesus, however, sees beyond the surface issue.

He recognizes an opportunity to address a deeper spiritual problem.

He quotes the prophet Isaiah, saying,

"This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines."

With these words, Jesus exposes a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of true holiness.

The Pharisees had become so focused on external observances that they had lost sight of what truly matters to God – the condition of our hearts.

Jesus goes on to explain that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile them.

Instead, it's what comes out of a person that defiles them.

He lists a catalog of vices that originate from within:

evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.

This teaching challenges us to look inward.

It's easy to focus on external practices and rituals, isn't it?

We might pride ourselves on never missing Mass, always saying our prayers, or following all the rules of fasting.

These are good practices, certainly, but Jesus is reminding us that they are not enough if our hearts are not right with God.

True holiness, Jesus teaches, begins from within.

It's about allowing God's grace to transform our hearts, minds, and souls.

It's about cultivating virtues that counter the vices Jesus mentioned –

love instead of hatred,

generosity instead of greed,

humility instead of arrogance,

truth instead of deceit.

This message would have been shocking to Jesus' audience.

The entire system of ritual purity, deeply ingrained in Jewish culture, was being called into question.

Jesus was not abolishing the law, but he was certainly reinterpreting it in a radical way.

He was calling his followers to a higher standard – not just outward compliance, but inward transformation.

So what does this mean for us today?

How do we apply this teaching to our lives?

First, we need to recognize that the temptation to focus on externals is still with us.

We might not worry about ritual hand-washing, but we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that as long as we're following the rules, we're okay.

Jesus is calling us to go deeper.

Second, we need to take seriously Jesus' warning about the things that come from within.

How often do we excuse our negative thoughts or attitudes, thinking they don't matter as long as we don't act on them?

Jesus is telling us that these internal dispositions are the real source of sin.

We need to be vigilant about what we allow to take root in our hearts.

Third, we need to cultivate a spirituality of the heart.

This means developing a deep, personal relationship with God through prayer, meditation on Scripture, and reception of the sacraments.

It means allowing God's grace to penetrate every aspect of our being, transforming us from the inside out.

Fourth, we need to remember that true holiness will always manifest itself in love for others.

If our religious observances aren't making us more loving, more compassionate, more forgiving, then we've missed the point.

As St. Paul reminds us, we can have all the external trappings of religion, but if we don't have love, we gain nothing.

Fifth, we need to be careful about elevating human traditions to the level of divine commandments.

While traditions can be valuable and meaningful, they should never become more important than the core teachings of Christ.

We must always be ready to examine our practices in the light of the Gospel.

Lastly, we need to approach this teaching with humility.

It's easy to hear Jesus' words and think about how they apply to others – those "Pharisees" in our midst who seem overly concerned with rules and regulations.

But the real challenge is to apply these words to ourselves.

How am I allowing God to transform my heart?

How am I growing in true holiness?

As we leave here today, let's carry with us this challenging message from Jesus.

Let's commit ourselves to a faith that goes beyond externals, a faith that allows God's grace to penetrate to the very core of our being.

Let's strive for a holiness that manifests itself in love, compassion, and service to others.

May God give us the grace to hear this word, to take it to heart, and to live it out in our daily lives.

And may our worship be not just with our lips, but with hearts fully devoted to God.

Amen.