by Lara D. Capparuccia
(originally published Oct. 9, 2021)
It’s not what goes into your body that defiles, but what comes out.
Some thoughts on the Gospel reading for 29 August 2021 – my birthday
The Gospel according to Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
:14-15 “[Jesus] summoned the crowd again and said to them, ‘Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from the outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.’”
Of course, this passage is pretty clear in its meaning as Jesus is straightforward in His address of the Jewish ritual washing of hands before eating. This passage did make me think, however, of all that has happened to the world in the last year and a half with the Covid crisis. We have been admonished to use hand sanitizer often and keep washing our hands. We are afraid to touch groceries, hymnals, offering plates…. everything is ‘unclean,’ or might be.
And now there is a new fear: we are being pressured/threatened/forced to take this “vaccine.” Some people think it may be the “mark of the beast.” But whether one chooses to take it or is forced to take it, we must remember that “nothing that enters one from the outside [including the covid shot, although it might kill you, or make you sick, or make you vulnerable to further biological attack, or mess with your mind even] can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
And we are certainly seeing the defilement coming out from all around us as people turn on one another; as they give in to the media’s fearmongering and the government’s tyranny; as they succumb to the pressure of keeping their jobs or “loving their neighbors” or being “good” citizens; and as they bully and shame others for questioning the Establishment and for standing up for truth and liberty!
Lord, have mercy, and deliver us from evil! Amen.
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