Reflection
In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses a parable to further teach the crowds that a New Law and New Covenant are coming that replaces the restrictive version of the Law of Moses that the Pharisees were imposing on them. He goes on to explain this teaching to his disciples, and to us.
The conflict with the Pharisees about their traditions takes place between two bread miracles – one for 5,000 in the territory of Israel and one for the 4,000 in Gentile territory. Mark uses this to indicate that a transition would be happening – a transition between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Pharisees sought Old Covenant righteousness by increasing the number of rules and restrictions and adding their traditions to the Law of Moses. They thought that they could be defiled by the food they ate or by their interactions with public sinners or Gentiles. True defilement comes not from the food we eat but from within the human heart. Interestingly, Jesus waits until he is alone with his disciples before explaining the meaning of his parable to the crowds about food and defilement. It marks a radical social and cultural shift for the people of God, and it will take time for this radical teaching about the dietary laws of the Old Covenant to be assimilated. The Jews were not yet ready for the coming unity between them and “Gentiles,” people of all other races, that the New Covenant would bring.
Jesus brought the Old Covenant to fulfillment in the New and taught that true righteousness is primarily a divine gift and not a human achievement. The Old Law gave knowledge of right and wrong but didn’t empower the people of God to do what is good and avoid what is evil. This profoundly changes in the New Covenant. We are empowered by the grace of the Holy Spirit to live true righteousness. Practices in the New Covenant, such as fasting and abstinence from certain foods on Fridays, sanctify us when they are empowered by divine grace. Such practices are of little or no value when they are not accompanied by charity and grace. Righteousness in the New Covenant is marked by our sacrificial love for the good of others, not just our fulfillment of religious practices intended to keep us holy. The Jews were a people of great faith. But we Christians are called to be a people of great faith and Spirit-led actions.
As we hear in the Letter of St. James, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” (James 2:15-16)
Today’s Question for Prayer and Reflection
How am I living the righteousness of the New Covenant?
Source for today’s reflection: https://epriest.com/reflections/view/3338