I am finishing up two Ignatian meditations on last week's gospel. Again, the passage was the one in which Christ engaged the Pharisees and scribes in a discussion on the real meaning of the Law.
Sometimes people forget that Christ talked with the Pharisees and did not ignore them. Because they were highly educated and the intellectual elite of the day, Christ could challenge them regarding the spirit of the Scriptures as well as the letter of the Law.
Christ is not telling anyone to ignore the Law. In fact, I think He allowed the apostles not to wash, or did not correct them on purpose to make a point with the Pharisees. This is good teaching. When I taught, in a few cases, I would let someone make bad points in a debate just to show what one should not do. Everyone had a chance to learn by seeing and doing. Christ is the Teacher, the Best Teacher. He knows His audience and what that group can handle.
The huge point of the list of sins turns around the word "intentions". Christ is changing the rules of the game of salvation. Avoiding sin is not enough. One's heart, mind and soul must be purified. Intentions, not actions, are first addressed by Christ. What is our intention? Do we get angry and judge interiorally quickly? Do we despair and fall into sorrow too soon after a disappointment? People cannot see all their own the sins without grace. Some are only intentions of vice, but vice none the less. Christ raises the bar of perfection and the Pharisees know exactly what He is doing. They are objecting to the new challenge of holiness.
They fight this. They want sins to remain external only. Oh no, we cannot be judged on our evil thoughts and evil desires. Oh, no.
Oh, yes. And that is one of Christ's points here. To be clean outside one must be clean inside. Washing hands is merely a symbol of interior purity.
Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.