Sacrificing Rules to Justify Yourself, Mark 7.1-23

When the Pharisees and Scribes confront Jesus about his disciples not ritually washing hands before eating, Jesus confronts them with their ability to sacrifice the rules of God with man-made traditions in order to justify themselves. In what ways do we do this today? How are we to overcome this desire?

Image: The Field of Derout-Lollichon, by Paul Gauguin, public domain by release from LACMA. Image location: https://collections.lacma.org/node/253530

The Bad, the Bad, and the Atonement for Both, Luke 18.9-14

What was the real difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector of Luke 18? Was one a good guy and the other bad? Or are both bad and one simply recognizes his proper need for an atoning sacrifice before God? Father Jeremiah looks at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector and considers what this parable teaches us to understand about ourselves.

Image: The Pharisee and the Publican, After Sir John Everett Millais, Engraved and printed by Dalziel Brothers. Public Domain. Image location: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/382281

God's Mercy, Our Sacrifice, Romans 12.1-8

St. Paul tells that in light of God’s mercy we are to be living sacrifices with our whole bodies. The difficulty with this is the a sacrifice that still lives can get up and move away from its calling. Thus, through that very mercy we to continually sacrifice ourselves in order to be raised into new life in Christ. It’s not easy, but it is what God has called us to in Christ Jesus and thus he will empower us to do so.

Image: Melchizedek offering sacrifice, mosaic from Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Photo by Lawrence OP. No Changes made. Used under license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Image located here.