Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites

It’s the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time and today’s gospel is a story when our Lord Jesus Christ chastised the Pharisees and the scribes for being strict on their rules, but he calls them hypocrites. You can read this story in the Gospel of Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

“1 Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, 2 they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.

5 So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 6 He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. 8 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”  

14 He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. Anyone who has ears ought to hear.

21 “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23 All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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This gospel story is one of the many dramatic stories of the life and times of our Lord Jesus Christ in what would be a number of verbal clashes between him, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes, which would eventually lead to disastrous consequences for our Lord Jesus Christ.

But if there is anyone who knows the hearts and minds of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, it is the Lord Jesus Christ… not because he is a God who became man, but if you remember during his Hidden Life, when St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover and when they returned to Nazareth, they realized that young boy Jesus was no longer with them in the caravan.

When they returned to Jerusalem (it was then one of the biggest cities of that time) it took St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary three days until they found him in the Temple with the teacher and doctors of the law and I’m sure that the Pharisees and the Scribes were also in that crowd who were amazed by knowledge of the little boy Jesus Christ. But then St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary suddenly arrived and found the missing Jesus.

Then Mama Mary asked her son, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus replied to his parents, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Then as the scripture was written,  “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Surely those teachers and doctors heard the boy Jesus telling his parents that he should be in his Father’s house. But only the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph knew what he meant.

This incident gives us an idea that at a very young age, our Lord Jesus Christ already knew what lurked in the hearts and minds of the teachers and the doctors of the Mosaic Law, that they follow human traditions because of their knowledge of Mosaic Law where the Jews are subjected to the most rigorous and strict observance of the Law. This is why the Lord told them straight to their faces that they are hypocrites, “They honor God with their lips but their heart is far from God; they obey the Law and the traditions, not to please God, but to be seen and admired by men.”

You may want to know why did the Pharisees and Scribes hate Jesus so much? From the very beginning they have accused Jesus of eating and dining with tax collectors and sinners...and worse, he even forgave a woman caught in adultery, which puzzled the Pharisees and Scribes who abhorred sinners and do not want to be associated with them. 

These so-called Guardians of Mosaic Law apparently do not know the depth of God’s Love, Mercy and Compassion. You can say that this is also happening today to some priests, pastors and Catholic Lay Servants of charismatic organizations who often forget their true role as first and foremost, the Servants of God… not the heads of their own flock because it is only our Lord Jesus Christ who is the true head of our flock. Let us then pray for real conversion of sinners so they can return to the fold of the true Shepherd.

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