On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
22nd Sunday, Year B
What We Celebrate
This Sunday we return to the Gospel of Mark after several week exploring the Bread of Life Discourse from the Gospel of John, but we don’t pick up where we left off in Mark. We pass over the death of John the Baptist, a second miracle on the stormy waters, back-to-back miracles of the multiplication of bread. Mark Chapter 6 ends with the summary statement “Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.” (v.56)
Such notoriety attracts attention, in this instance: the Pharisees and scribes who notice that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating as required by the “tradition of the elders.” Simple question. Complicated answer.
As always, a lot going on in the gospel reading. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and take a moment on the back porch with the Word of God.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
The Pharisees Question Jesus | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum | PD-US
Sacred Tradition and Scripture
Mark 7:8, referring to “human traditions” is often a verse which non-Catholic folk will hold up as proof text of the manner in which the Catholic Church has gone astray, introducing all manner of non-Biblical beliefs – placing human traditions over and above Sacred Scripture. But they do not seem to understand that the Catholic church has lots of “traditions” (small “t”) that come and go, but that is not what the Church means when it speaks about Sacred Traditions (large “T”). In the video below, Fr. Mike Schmitz speaks to the relationship of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church.