Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
It is a common phrase these days, “I believe in God but not in organized religion.” Or, I have heard people say, “I am a spiritual person but I just do not want to belong to any religion.” More and more people are finding this to be an attractive alternative.
All the readings today are all about organized religion. The first reading talks about the statutes and decrees that Moses gave to the people to observe. The second reading gives us James’ understanding of religion that is pure and undefiled. He says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” And Jesus in today’s gospel tries up to correct false religiosity particularly as he encountered it in Pharasaical Judaism. Quoting Isaiah he says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”Jesus was clearly juxtaposing authentic religiosity against and mere human traditions.
Let me offer three points for reflection.
- Why Religion? First of all, religion in its most basic sense regulates the human-divine relationship. Most religions have statues and decrees because religion is a not a God-and-me reality. Religion primarily is about God’s relationship with the community and the relationship of its members within and outside the community. Laws, decrees and statutes become important because they guide the community’s actions both spiritual and temporal. What Moses was trying to communicate to the people of Israel in today’s first reading was simply this – that religion or the Covenant, the laws, statues and decrees that Israel came to know was first of all a gift from God. The statues and decrees that God gave the people was a sign of God’s care, of God’s steadfast love and fidelity. Religion was not to be perceived as a burden, but rather as an opportunity and an invitation to participate in the life of God.
For us who are Christians, this is such an important point. We believe that God‘s love and care far exceeds laws and decrees. We believe that God gave us not just a religion but God gave us God’s Son. We believe that in Jesus we can call God “father’ and ‘mother.’ We believe that Jesus gives us more than just a new religion. Jesus gives us his own body and blood so that we can be one with him and he can be IN us. All these things are God’s gifts to us. Today, let us be grateful to God for the gift of faith and for God’s self-gift to us.
- The Power of Religion. Religion is powerful. Religion is powerful because religion gives an individual or a community its identity. Religion connects us to meaning and purpose. It is related to the human desire for immortality. Because religion is powerful it is a tool that is often misused to manipulate human beings. Catholics and Protestants fought the Thirty-year religions war in Europe. Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered – all in the name of the same Christ who asked Peter to put his sword in its scabbard. The terrorists who flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center were invoking the name of Allah as they killed thousands of innocent people. Over the last decade Hindu’s have killed many Christians in opposition to the Westernization of India. Even Buddhist monks have engaged in violence in Sri Lanka. Religion is powerful. It can be life-giving or it can be destructive.
If we take Jesus’ words seriously today, I see Christ asking us to separate false religiosity from genuine worship of God. We Catholics have our share of hypocrisy and falsehood. When worship becomes an obligation, or when we think that merely being Catholic entitles us to eternity, or to think that Latin makes worship more authentic, or when we think that God is white or black or brown or yellow, or when we think that there will only be Catholics in heaven, we give into false religiosity. As Jesus says in today’s gospel the external things are not what matters. It is what is within that separates authentic from what is a farce.
- Religion that is Pure and Undefiled. So what is religion that is pure and undefiled? James would say, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Jesus, repeating the words of Isaiah said, “These people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.“ From the Christian perspective, at the heart of the matter there is only one thing – love. At the center of a disciple is love. That is why Jesus brought all the commandments, decrees and statues under two commandments: Love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength and to love each other as God has loved us. Everything else we do: our worship each Sunday, the prayers we say, the devotions we practice, the charity we give, the social service we do, the food we put on the table, the laundry we wash, the beer we drink with our friends must somehow be an expression of these two commandments.
As we bring this bread and wine for worship, let us remember that our worship is God's gift to us. May this worship be an expression of our love for God and one another. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph