Por Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB

Moses toward the end of his life gave wise instruction to the people on what God willed for them, and in the final book of the Law he repeated, “In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, … you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.” Moses was not so much the lawgiver as he who stated God’s revealed law and not wanting to see it twisted beyond or less than what God intended. (See Dt 4: 2;5a). In turn, we are told to accept the teachings of Jesus, not as abolishing God’s Law given by Moses, but as Jesus said, fulfilling or perfecting it.

St. Mark opens his gospel this way, “The beginning of the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” and thus recognizes Him to be “Son of God.“ Later, Mark wrote, “[Jesus] came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God.” The first words spoken by the new Moses as He began his ministry were: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Thus, Jesus proclaimed that He was the fulfillment or perfection of obedience to the commandments of His Father which lead to heaven.

Mark, in our Gospel of this weekend, points to some of the ‘additions’ forbidden by Moses that the Jewish elders had devised in place of the straightforward commandments of God: “For the Pharisees, and in fact all Jews, do not eat without washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. … They do not eat without purifying themselves… and [they do]many other things…the purification of cups, jugs, and kettles” (See Mk 7:3-4). These added traditions had become sacred, and the hungry apostles ate in violation of them as the scandalized elders looked on with contempt. Jesus accused them of giving God lip service without heart. He portrayed His Father saying, “In vain do you worship Me, teaching as doctrine human precepts.” Interior sentiment is what counts, not burdensome human inventions.

St. James puts an apostolic seal on these our reflections. Words just spoken, words like I believe, I trust, I love you, not turned into deeds are not enough. A truly religious person, as is one truly honest, must turn believing, trusting, and loving God into deeds.  So be it with us!