When her kids were little, my friend was petrified at the thought of sending them outside. She thought, just beyond her threshold of her home were throngs of invisible germs just waiting to pounce on them without mercy or hesitation. Inside her home, she felt some measure of control over her children's exposure to bacteria. By keeping them clean, she thought, she could keep them safe, keep them healthy, or was she doing more harm than good?
More and more, however, doctors identify getting dirty during childhood as a crucial step in the development of a healthy immune system and the tamping down of future allergies. Playing outdoors — and yes, getting dirty — is not just crucial for developing muscles and balance or learning to withstand scrapes and bruises, it's also an ideal way to be exposed to many different kinds of helpful bacteria. Having a wide variety of bacteria living in and on the body creates a microbial ecosystem that makes it harder for a single strain to flourish and cause illness.
Jesus’ dispute with the Pharisees because of the disciples’ eating with unwashed hands in yesterday’s reading moves to a further explanation for the crowds. While the first controversy with the Pharisees was about how a person eats, the next phase deals with what goes into a person and what comes out.
Jesus explains that only “the things that come out from within” (Mk 7:15) can defile a person. It is from the heart—not the stomach—that evil comes. Jesus tells us to look at what comes out of a person—do we see the fruits of love, goodness, faithfulness, and honesty? Today, we can ask ourselves: What do we look for in those we meet? Does someone well dressed in expensive clothes and with the latest smartphone and iPad attract us? Or is it the person who is intent on service, one who may be dressed in poor clothes but who has kind eyes, helpful hands, and honest language?
The challenge here is there are many among us who are wearing the costumes of success. Nice clothes, the latest gadgets, big house and car, yet these externals are often a cover to hide the authentically human mud pies. We are flawed, imperfect persons. God sees our often-dirty filled reality and loves us still, unconditionally.
Often when I talk with teens I’ll tell them we are living billboard, what are you selling? In this Eucharist, Jesus lays it all out, no air about him, he comes to us in the humble form of bread and wine. Are we impressed?
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