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?"
The Pharisees who asked this question weren't so concerned with ritual purity as they were with asserting their superiority over the disciples of Jesus. For them, the ritual handwashing was just one more item in a litany of performance that they did, not for God, but so that they could compare themselves favorable with others. Rather than become an occasion of humility as the cleansing of water reminded them of their reliance on God it became instead a point of prideful ostentation. The modern equivalent might be a Catholic who practices every possible devotion, says every novena, and recites every litany, but only in order to look down on other Catholics who do not do those things. We probably all know someone who makes a law out of their favorite tradition, insisting that it is all but necessary for salvation. Hopefully we ourselves avoid this temptation even for those traditions which have been very helpful for us individually. It is possible to share the value we find in such devotions without creating a sense of guilt in those who are not inclined to take them up.
How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
We must be careful that we do not cling to human traditions at the expense of the commandment of God. Sometimes it's easier to say one more litany than to go out of our way to respond to a friend in need. Donating money as corban to God may have been easier for than honoring father and mother by actively engaging in relationship with them. Or maybe it was just a mask with which those who did so concealed a more hostile disposition toward them. Either way, there was no real and justifiable way to opt out of that commandment. The Pharisees were often experts in finding a little thing that they could set over and against the big picture of the law. And they did so largely to appease their own appetites and to avoid things they saw as difficult or displeasing. The solution that will allow us to avoid such temptations is to ensure that we not only honor God with our lips but with our hearts as well. We must not only tic the boxes of a list of rules, but must try to understand the mercy and love that motivates the heart of God, and allow him to teach us to share those motives.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.
We are called to cling to the word of God. But we are also called to "hold to the traditions that you were taught by us" (see Second Thessalonians 2:15). The word for traditions in Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians is the same word as Jesus used in today's Gospel. But there is a clear difference between the human traditions that Jesus criticized and the Sacred Tradition upheld as necessary by the Church in every age. If the trick is not to be confused about which is which then the teaching authority of the Church, especially as expressed in the Catechism, is probably a good place to start.
Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built!
There is a sense in which nothing human, not a temple, and not tradition, can contain the infinite and almighty God. But nevertheless he does choose to dwell among us. His Spirit fills his bride, constantly teaching her, and revealing the depths of his own heart to her. This is why we must have a posture of humble receptivity in the presence of the divine mystery. The Pharisees seemed like a cup that was already full. Worse yet, it was full of their own toxic brew. We must constantly seek to empty ourselves of our selfishness and pride in order that we me be continually filled by God.
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
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