With the twenty first Sunday, Year B we are back on track with the readings from the gospel of Mark. This Sunday gospel focuses on the accusation made by Pharisees against Jesus and his disciples, namely, of having their meals with unclean hands. Being concerned not so much with the hygienic rules, but with the ritual purity norms, the Pharisees trying to discredit Jesus in front of the people. They try to present him as an ’unclean’ and for their reason as one who does not deserve to be given any attention. In this way, they try to eliminate him as their opponent in the fight for the spiritual leadership among the people.

The tactic applied by the Pharisees was nothing new. Also in our times, we can see this socio-technique being utilized almost in every political campaign, such as the one that is going on right now. However, the irony is that we ourselves use this weapon quite often. Perhaps even without realizing it, we tend to categorize people according to our own ’standards of ritual purity’ separating those whom we label as ’clean’ from those whom we consider as ’unclean’ for some reason. We try to be part of the former and avoid the latter. But that is not what Jesus did.

As Jesus himself points out in the gospel, all sorts of impurity have their origin in the human heart. All evil of this world, all injustice, discrimination, violence, dominance has its origin in the human heart. If we don’t first change one’s heart, there is no point of changing social structures, because in reality nothing will change. It is as if a man who served many years of prison once being realized immediately commits the same crime for which he was sentenced for many years of jail. The formal demand for justice has been satisfied, but the heart of the criminal did not change which in the end led him to commit the same crime.  

With all due proportions, I think each one of us have experienced the same struggle with our vices and sins. This gospel comes to remind us that Jesus Christ is the only one who can heal our hearts. He is the one who is not afraid to mingle with prostitutes and tax collections, with the unclean of every sort. Jesus knows our hearts and has power to make them new.

The Pharisees who saw themselves as clean and healthy did not accept the message of Jesus. On the contrary, they saw him as their opponent who needs to be put aside. But Jesus didn’t even judge them for that. On the other hand, those who saw their sins, their vices, their uncleanness came for healing to Jesus.

This Sunday reminds us again that Jesus came not to those who are well, but to those who are sick. May we discover the joy of finding ourselves in that group and allow our Lord to remove the uncleanness of sin from our hearts with the power of his grace.