“Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach?” Jesus in Mark 7,1-8, 14,15,21-23.
“He’s a man with a fork in a world of soup.” Noel Gallagher of brother Liam.
In today’s Gospel, Pharisees from Jerusalem are shocked to notice that some of his followers were eating without washing their hands and it may be that their concern about abandoning the hygiene practices of their faith is genuine rather than done to provoke him. According to the dietary laws Jews followed, washing of the hands, the food to be eaten and the vessels used to cook and eat it was essential and, being from the centre of faith that is Jerusalem, the more lax customs of the provinces would be particularly noticeable. As this is voiced, the Pharisaical comments irritate Jesus, who quotes Isaiah to them and calls them hypocrites due to a passage omitted in the Gospel today. (Mark 7:9-13. Although the fifth commandment is to honour your father and mother, it had become accepted that money which might have been used to care for them could be given to the Temple as an offering instead, thus disobeying the commandment.)
Having confronted the Pharisees, Jesus then calls the crowd and suggests to the people that it’s what comes out of someone that defiles rather than what goes in. He later tells his disciples that it’s what is in the heart rather than the stomach that matters as the heart is where many sins which can grow when the person feeds on wrongdoing whereas food simply goes through the system and passes out again.
However, the washing of food and utensils is important in avoiding food poisoning, a factor to consider is the days before fridges. Restrictions over pork and milk were also considerations for good reason whereas Jesus declares all foods clean (v19) as he now prepares to enter Gentile territory and its practice. Nowadays, hygiene regulations apply where food is served and the washing of hands became a priority during the pandemic with emphasis on thorough cleansing rather than a brief rinse. Given that so many people the world over have no clean water to drink or nourishing food to eat, the irony in what the Pharisees say is not lost today and being from Jerusalem links them with the place of Jesus’ death but also his resurrection as circumstances changed. As the church continues to battle the tension between established practice and changing interpretations, compromise may be possible – as Oasis reunite after resolving the protracted disputes between the Gallagher brothers, perhaps Liam’s dilemma could be overcome by using a spork, a spoon with tines, instead of a fork!
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.