Who Has The Right Of Way?

Jesus wants our hearts purified and that means we must yield our hearts to His love, mercy, forgiveness, tenderness, and abundant grace. Yielding requires allowing the one with the right of way to go first. A yielded heart gives the right of way to the purifier within us to work from the inside out and not from the outside in. Purification rituals were established to remind us that our souls need refinement and that is why we come to worship. It is the worship that comes out of us that purifies us, and not the rituals going in, for those were simply designed to help us yield our hearts. I recently heard a talk and the speaker said, “the strength of your heart is measured by what it takes to distract you from worship.” Our hearts were miraculously designed with such a rich capacity that both good AND bad can come out of it, and what comes out of our heart can both purify AND defile us. Surrendering or yielding our hearts to Jesus through worship and thanksgiving is the truest way to purify our hearts and in Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Worship or intimacy with Jesus opens the eyes of our heart to see God. When we see God in all things, everything changes. 

Today, Jesus quotes Isaiah to remind us about keeping our hearts soft and supple for Him to occupy, “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.” Hard hearts are far hearts. Jesus wants to be close and so He is inviting us into worship to tenderize and yield our hearts to this invitation. If our rituals don’t lead us into more authentic worship, then we have missed the point. I pray for hearts made squishy through our worship today. Let the purification begin from within. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 1 KGS 8:22-23, 27-30

Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD
in the presence of the whole community of Israel,
and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,
he said, “LORD, God of Israel,
there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below;
you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants
who are faithful to you with their whole heart.

“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!
Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God,
and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant,
utter before you this day.
May your eyes watch night and day over this temple,
the place where you have decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.
Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel
which they offer in this place.
Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon.”

Responsorial Psalm 84:3, 4, 5 AND 10, 11

R.    (2)  How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R.    How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
 and the swallow a nest
 in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R.    How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.
R.    How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty 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.
R.    How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

Alleluia PS 119:36, 29B

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;
and favor me with your law.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 7:1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
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.)
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?”  
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;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.
Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.”