Father Dominic Emmanuel

“Pharisaic attitude” is a phrase that is used for describing the mindset of those who are self-righteous and consider themselves superior to others, especially when it comes to religious and moral practices. The phrase originated from the New Testament of the Bible where we find Pharisees constantly interacting with Jesus often only to point out how he and his disciples broke customs and rules that the Pharisees and other Jews of the time meticulously observed. One of the two meanings of Pharisee in the dictionary is, “a person who is very proud of the fact that he has high religious and moral standards but who does not care enough about other people”.
Jesus, along with his disciples, was becoming quite popular among ordinary people. The Pharisees saw this as a huge obstacle in their way to glory and fame. Once, as the Gospel of Mark describes, “when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault because the Pharisees and all Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. And there are many other things which they have received and are holding onto, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
The essence of Jesus’ teaching was always to free people from such external rituals and help them discover God’s love, so quoting to them from the Book of Isaiah, which they regularly read and were familiar with, he retorted saying, “This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”. Jesus then continued, “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups and other such things you do”.
One could easily find the resonance of Jesus’ teachings in what Swami Dayanand Saraswati taught. He was against many of the external rituals of the Hindu religion and he asked people to give up those ritualistic practices and return to the purity of Vedas. My association with Swami Agnivesh, one of the close followers of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, has opened my eyes further to this truth. I see him often shunning the external rituals, which ordinary people often think is necessary for their spiritual life.
It is common for ordinary folks like us to frequently believe that we can please God and fulfil his commandments by performing some external practices. It would appear that the words Jesus quoted, “This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me”, might well describe our actions. For instance, in India, we notice that in most shops, just above where the owner sits, there is the statue of his/her Ishta Dev. And before the owner settles down, s/he is seen praying devoutly before the god/goddess, doing puja with agarbatti, reciting all the prayers and so on. But these would not necessarily correspond with his business practices.
To press his point further about the futility of external practices, which were not restricted only to spiritual matters, Jesus imparts another teaching to his disciples saying, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realise that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated”. (Thus he declared all food as clean). Then He said, “What comes out of a person — that defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, lewdness, stinginess, blasphemy, pride and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person”.
Jesus certainly throws light on the root of evil which often has serious consequences on human behaviour and relationship, both with God and with one another. An insight like that can take us a long way in living a good spiritual and moral life here.

— Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He was awarded the National Communal Harmony Award 2008 by the Government of India. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com