Devotion 

Be Doers of the Word

Frances Taylor 

Have you ever heard someone say – or thought to yourself – look at him/her, I can't believe the way he's/she's acting, he/she goes to church every Sunday? Perhaps it's someone at work, or at school, or in the neighborhood, or even in your family. What a hypocrite, you might say, and it's possible that that person doesn't have a clue – much like the Pharisees.

In Mark's gospel, the apostles are being condemned for eating without washing their hands. Now, we don't know the circumstances, but I would bet that many of us do the same thing even though we know that we should wash our hands before eating. However, if I want an ice cream on a hot day, I'm not going to ask the kid at the ice cream stand where to find a bathroom so that I can first wash my hands. But for observant Jews, to wash before eating was one of the many, many Mosaic laws. Jesus points out for them, that some laws are more important than others – like being honest, refraining from envy, not stealing, in other words, keeping the Ten Commandments. If we apply this message to today, we can ask ourselves if we are faithful to the Law of Love that Jesus has given us, or if we just give it lip service. Unless we refrain from lying, cheating, gossiping, stealing, greediness, passing judgment on others, and so many other traps the world holds out for us, are we any better than those we might criticize?

We come to listen to God's word, not so that we can pat ourselves on the back for keeping the commandment, but to learn how to better follow Jesus in our daily lives. It would be well for us to take to heart words of St. James, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves."

Prayer 

Lord, give us the grace to follow your law of love with open minds and open hearts and keep us from looking at the failings of others, but working to heal our own instead. Amen.