Tradition
Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 2, 2018
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
“You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” (Mk. 7:8)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus seems to denounce all traditions. However, this position is rather simplistic and unattainable. The reason is that human beings are the creatures of traditions. Tradition comes from Latin word, “tradere”, meaning “to hand down”. Thus, crudely put, tradition is anything that has been handed down from our predecessors. Traditions range from something tangible like technologies and fashions, to something intangible like values, languages, sciences and many more. I remember how my mother taught me basic Christian prayers, like Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Rosary, and how my father would regularly bring us to the Church every Sunday. This is my family’s religious traditions. As an Indonesian living in the Philippines, I appreciate the “Mano Po” tradition among the Filipinos. This is a simple gesture of respect and blessing. The younger Filipinos are to hold a hand of older Filipino, and place it on their forehead.
Had Jesus renounced all the traditions, He should have stopped speaking Aramaic, refrained from teaching the people, begun removing all His Jewish clothes, and walking naked! Yet, Jesus did not do those things. Jesus respects traditions and acknowledges their importance. However, Jesus also recognizes that there are some traditions that are problematic and bring more problems rather than solutions. Immersed in the stream of traditions, Jesus invites us to discern well on what traditions that bring us true worship of God and genuine progress for human society.
Going back to the time of Jesus, the Jews are particular with ritual purity because they can only worship God when they are ritually clean. In view of this worship, they carefully avoid contamination from blood, dead body and unclean animals, or any objects that are in contact with these things. Since they are not sure whether their hands and utensils are ritually clean, especially if they come from the marketplace or the fields, they make it a habit to purify their hands and utensils to evade contamination from uncleanliness. Thus, various purification rituals develop into traditions for the Jews. The intention of these traditions is good because they assist people to worship God. However, some of the Pharisees put excessive emphasis on these traditions and make them absolute as if failure to observe these rituals means they fail to revere God. They confuse between the genuine worship that brings true honor for God, and other traditional practices that assist people in achieving this worship.
Jesus does not only invite us to discern carefully various traditions we have, but Jesus also offers us a more fundamental tradition in worshiping God. Instead of “handing down” practices or things, Jesus hands down something most important, namely His own life for God and us. Jesus gives up His Body and Blood, His total self, in the Last Supper, and this sacrifice reaches its summit at the Cross. His self-offering becomes the most pleasing worship to God, and procures the gift of salvation for all of us. Because of His Tradition, the world is no longer the same. Jesus hands over this great Tradition to His Disciples and throughout the generations, the Christians are faithfully offering this sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. As we partake Jesus’ self-offering, we are also empowered to hand down ourselves to others. This means we are invited to make our daily sacrifices, to persevere in doing good, and to be faithful to our commitments either as spouse, parents, priests, religious, or professionals. As we live this greatest tradition daily, we do not only make the world a better place, but to offer a pleasing worship to God.
Br. Valentinus Bayuahadi Ruseno, OP