Living
Look Into The Pages Of Your Heart
Genesis 2:4-9,15-17
Mark 7:14-23
THE HEART OF THE ISSUE AT HAND: THE KINGDOM OF GOD
When Jesus speaks to the crowd his disciples are always with him but the deeper meaning of what Jesus preaches is granted to them in private. We need to be grateful to the gospel writers who gave us such details and today‘s gospel is one of such moments. Christ tells us and his disciples today that it is not that which goes into the man that makes him unclean but what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.
JESUS ADDRESSES THE HEART
What Jesus speaks about in today’s gospel is not far-fetched. We just need to read the headlines and watched the breaking news that surrounds us daily. to see the realities that Jesus present to us today. What are those things? They include following; hatred, evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly, etc. These are the ills in society and in the world at large.
TRUTH /MAN’S TRADITION
As at the time of Jesus, Jewish tradition held that there are clean and unclean foods and also if a person did not wash their hands before eating, then what ever they touched and then ate would defile their soul. Jesus said that this is not true. It was not about how you washed your hand or what you ate that would defile you, it was about what was in your heart, mind, and soul and what came out of your mouth. Your soul cannot be ruined by the food you eat
In as much as eating is something we do every day, whatever we are eating is not to be taken in without precautions. We must be careful about what we are going to eat. Food that is spoilt or expired is not to be eaten otherwise we will end up with a bad tummy. If what goes into d stomach affects our physical health, then what goes into our hearts will affect our spiritual health.
QUESTIONS FOR THE HEART
The Lord, listed about twelve ‘evil intentions’ that defile a person. Let him reveal to me the one I need to address right now? What evil thoughts and desires do I have in my mind and heart that lead me to sin? What evil intention do I have in my heart that I am about to commit?What can I do to replace those evil thoughts and desires? What sin is leading me out of control?
DIVINE LOVE
Our Christian faith is based on a love-relationship with God. From this love our actions and our rituals flow. From this love flows our non-judgemental attitude to others. Into this love, happiness enters from God and flows from us to others. this is the original plan for us from the beginning of creation.
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE ALWAYS THE GOOD
In fact, the fruit the of tree of knowledge of good and evil was obviously not just an ordinary fruit but it was a forbidden fruit, and eating it had spiritual effects. By implication, it means God who created us out of love and free will wants to choose the good so that we can become his image and likeness and the tree to test our obedience to God.
PRAY WITH THE PSALM
King David left us a beautiful consoling prayers in the psalm that we can make our own: “A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence nor deprive me of your Holy Spirit” Psalm 50 (51). Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2. His prayer was favorably answered. So will ours. Amen.
Fr Joseph Osho
