The rules
It is written literally: you pharisees purify (Greek: katharìzo) the outside of the cup and of the plate, but your insides are full of thievery (Greek: harpaghè) and wickedness (Greek ponerìa). Katharìzo “I purify, render pure,” etymology signifies “without mixing.” Arpàghe, determinant of the verb arpàzo, means “thievery, robbery, loot, prey,” and that which has been torn forcefully, possessed by violence. The root arp- indicates an activity which takes place in the dark, in a hidden way; the Akkadian arapu means, in fact , “to become dark.” Ponerìa means malice, bad intention, maleficence.”
Jesus forcefully reproves those who follow the rules and prescriptions and exert pressure on others to make them do the same and he calls them fools: Why? Because the rule is the modality according to which one carries out an activity, by which an action is performed. The rule is conventionally established and dictated for the most part by habit, experience, by religious principles, by traditions and over time it can become a behavioral norm and lifestyle. Rules can be useful in certain contexts to control and guide attitudes outside of man, but are limited in that they have no power to modify the inside of man’s heart. In truth, by its very nature the rule does not have the power to change us from within. The highway code, for example, helps the driver to travel in the safest way possible for himself and others, but it cannot in any way teach from within how a driver should be when he is in the diver’s seat, or how to enjoy driving in a pleasant, safe way. The rule forces us to do, not to be. Rules can obligate us to keep the feastday holy, to celebrate the Eucharist, but they cannot in any way make us feel within our hearts the gratitude, the joy, the pleasure, the love of the Eucharist.
Another important thing: rules are not procedures. Rules are of human origin, procedures are of divine origin. Eating on a schedule is a human rule, eating when one is hungry is a divine procedure. Eating with silverware is a human rule, eating with one’s hands is a divine procedure. Private property is a human rule, sharing all well-being without distinction is a divine procedure. Loving those who love us is a human rule, loving everyone is a divine procedure. Forgiving when we feel like it and when it seems best is a human rule, forgiving always as a radical choice is a divine procedure. Jesus calls fools those who insist on following the rules with fanatic determination as if these could change our heart from within, unaware or forgetful that rules can never be procedures.
Jesus tells us to liberate ourselves from the rules to arrive at the metànoia, the transformative change of heart. He says literally: give mercy-compassion [Greek: elemosùne] to the content (Greek: enèimi, “existing things, the things that exist within”] and all the things will be for you pure-purified-without mixture [Greek: katharòs]. It is difficult, almost impossible to translate elemosùne as “monetary alms”: this term carries, in fact, an important, highly spiritual meaning. Jesus explains that first and beyond every written or understood rule, the Supreme Rule, or rather the Supreme Non-rule is the procedure to love, to give, to offer mercy and compassion from within our existence. Mercy and compassion which, moment by moment, situation by situation, are transformed into forgiveness, aid, help, charity, support, inspiration, gratuitousness, hospitality, clothing, tollerance, justice, sharing. Giving love in the name of love: this overcomes the fear of rules, the hypocrisy of fanatic norms, the stupidity of empty pressure to respect moral protocols.