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Gospel Reading for February 10, 2026 – Mark 7: 1-13
HARSH TASKMASTER
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”
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There is nothing wrong with washing one’s hands before eating or cleansing oneself after coming from the marketplace, since these practices are good for our health. What made them wrong was that the elders, Pharisees, and scribes elevated these human traditions to the level of God’s commandments, while at the same time neglecting the true commandments—to love God and to love one’s neighbor.
By elevating these human traditions, they made God appear unreasonable and capricious, like a HARSH TASKMASTER who delights in burdening those who believe in him. Yet God never desires to burden us. He sent his Son into the world so that we might be freed from what weighs us down and be unburdened of worldly cares.
Parents, therefore, must be careful in the way they correct the mistakes of their children. Statements such as, “God will punish you if you do not eat your vegetables,” or “God will strike you with lightning if you tell lies,” can distort a child’s image of God. The kind of God we present to them today will shape the kind of God they will believe in as they grow into the future.
Lord, grant us the wisdom to understand the true meaning of your precepts, for we know that they are perfect!
