Salman Rushdie, is a controversial Islamic author His most controversial book was The Satanic Verses. Radical Muslims leaders have passed the fatwa (death sentence) against him for blasphemy. At the beginning of the new millennium, Rushdie wrote a letter to the ‘sixth billionth person’ to be born into the world. One of the many advices he offers the baby, one of them has to do with religion. Rushdie highlights the follies of religion. He enumerates all the wars and divisions caused in the name of God. He also mentions the frightening image of God many people have. He concludes by saying that religion has done more harm than good. He persuades the baby to abandon any religious inclinations. Instead, Rushdie exhorts the baby to trust in its own humanity, its ability to think for itself, its own natural ability to grow and live in a world of freedom in a place of shared social life and conversation. He even quotes John Lennon’s famous song “Imagine there is no heaven, its easy of you try. No hell below is, above us only sky.”
I do not agree with Rushdie but he certainly makes me think. It is true! Much harm has been done in the name of religion. But one cannot ignore the good that faith in God has been accomplished when religion becomes the true expression of faith in God. Think of Mother Teresa, for example. This is the theme of today’s Gospel reading – to identify the core of human religiosity and to distinguish it from mere human misconceptions. Mark brings this conflict out through the Jesus–Pharisee conflict. In the Gospel of Mark, right from the beginning the Pharisees begin to accuse Jesus of breaking the Mosaic Laws. They object to him eating with tax collectors and sinners (2:6); They object to his disciples not fasting (2:18-22); they complained about his disciples breaking the Sabbath by picking the heads of grain (2:23-28); they accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by healing a sick man (3:1-6); and in today’s gospel they accuse him of ignoring the rites of cleansing.
I am inclined to react angrily at the accusations that the Pharisees were making against Jesus, because they were hampering Jesus’ efforts to take people beyond the layers of human misconceptions and reveal the true spirit of Mosaic Law and its observance as the Book of Deuteronomy demands. As I look back at history I am also inclined to react angrily at other religious conflicts. For example, the inquisition makes me angry; the crusades make me angry; the thirty year religious war in Europe make me angry; the holocaust makes me angry; seeing the Iraq war as a religious war makes me angry; the Hindu-Muslim riots makes me angry; The Muslim-Jewish conflict makes me angry. One does not have to look hard to discover the futility and the meaninglessness of religious conflicts. The words of Isaiah that Jesus repeats in the Gospel seem true, “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandments but cling to human tradition.” (Is 29:13)
Today Jesus invites his followers today to go back to the basics, to look at the core of religion. What do the life and words of Jesus tell us about the core of religion. Let me bring it down to three points:
1. Jesus teaches us that at the core of religion is an intimate relationship with a personal God. On the contrary, at the core of the Pharisees’ faith is a set of laws. Jesus calls this personal God “Abba.” In return, twice - at his baptism and transfiguration the Father confesses Jesus as his “beloved Son.” This intimacy with God became the driving force for his ministry just as it became the source and summit of his prayer. His intimacy would lead him to say, “My food is to do the will of the Father.” (Jn 4:34) Like Jesus, our Baptism too is the beginning of a relationship with the Father – the beginning of our being sons and daughters of God. Each of the Sacrament – from Baptism to Anointing of the sick, from birth until death – is an invitation to this personal God to invade every aspect of our lives. Today Christ is challenging us to look at the core of our relationship with God. If at the core of our faith and of the practice of our religion there is anything else other than an intimate relationship with a personal God then it is possible that our faith is shallow, our religion is legalistic, and our rituals are empty of meaning. This week, let us think deeply about the core of our spiritual and religious life.
2. Jesus teaches us that at the core of religion is love. On the contrary, at the core of the Pharisees faith was blind observance of the Law. Jesus personalised the core of OT spirituality – steadfast love and fidelity. Jesus’ teachings give us ample examples of love. “Love your enemies…” (Lk 5:43-48) “If someone asks for a cloak, give the tunic as well…” 9Mt 5:42) “Walk the extra mile…” (Mt 5:41) Pray and do good to those who do harm to you…” (Mt 5:44) If you do not forgive, you cannot be forgiven…” (Mt 6:14) “Love one another as I have loved you…” (Jn 15:12) “No greater love can one have but to lay down ones life for ones friends…” (Jn 15:13) As Christians, we celebrate that love and fidelity each week in the Eucharist, when we relive Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of love and fidelity on the cross. If we are here today for any other reason our intimate love and fidelity to our God, then we are no different than the Pharisees in today’s gospel. This week, think deeply about faith as love.
3. At the core of religion is our neighbour (neighbour as Christ explains in the parable of the Good Samaritan). On the contrary, at the core of the Pharisees’ religiosity is following the law even at the cost of human life. Hear the words of St James in today’s second reading, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James understood well Jesus’ understanding of faith and religion. the meaning of Jesus breaking the Sabbath to heal a dying man. At the core of Jesus’ practice of his faith was the neighbour. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, in his offering faith the Samaritan woman, in his healing the Centurion’s son, in the healing the Syro-Phoenecian woman, in forgiving and justifying the soldiers who crucified him, in inviting the tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners to his table, in each of the healings he performed, he let his Father’s love flow out to those around him. If love of neighbour is not the core expression of our spirituality and faith, then perhaps we need to redefine the core of our faith. This week, let us think deeply about how our faith finds its expression.
May our Eucharist today lead us to true practice of our faith. Amen.
