Daily Gospel Reflection for September 1, 2024

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Handwashing has always been a big deal in our house. With four of the six of us having immune system disorders, it was a necessity, not to mention I didn’t have the time or energy to run around the house scrubbing dirty handprints from appliances and walls. Additionally, the thought of eating food with grimy hands grosses me out.

So, in a small way, I can sympathize with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel. They observed Jesus’s disciples eating their meals without first washing their hands and were alarmed. Their alarm, however, was for a completely different reason than mine. They weren’t really worried about health or being sanitary, they were in search of any tiny thing that would allow them to accuse our Lord and His followers of wrongdoing. In this Scripture passage, the point they chose to pick on was not the griminess of the disciples’ hands, but the fact that they were not adhering to Jewish laws for purification. They were fanatic about the laws, not because they wanted to please God in all things, but because they thought it made them better than others.

When the Pharisees try to trap Jesus by questioning the disciples’ behavior. Our wise and quick-witted Lord has the perfect comeback, quoting the prophet Isaiah.

“This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

He points out that the Pharisees and others like them brush off God’s laws in favor of human laws that often are without meaning or love of God. It’s all just for show.

Jesus doesn’t care about what’s outside of us; He cares about what’s inside of us. He cares what lies in our hearts and how it affects our love for Him.

Ponder:

Do I embrace the laws of God or the laws and influences of human beings?

Pray:

Jesus, please teach me to love Your laws above all else. Look deep inside my heart and show me how I can become more like You and less like the Pharisees.

Daily Gospel 4