Death, defilement or deliberate choices?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 8, 2023: Genesis 2: 4-9,15-17; Mark 7: 14-23

Religious practices and principles abound in our contexts defining what is right and what is wrong; determining what is acceptable and what is inacceptable in the sight of God. The Word today has one such clarification as to what would make a person inacceptable in the eyes of God from a Christian perspective - it is neither death nor defilement.

Death is considered the peak of negative experiences by many religious traditions but not the Christian. Death is merely another milestone considering the totality of human experiences. It shouldn't perturb us or preoccupy us. Death in fact is an experience that one should prepare oneself towards. 

Defilement laws are seen as important religious factors in a society. What makes one socially acceptable or not, what renders someone pure or impure, or what makes one holy and another defiled, has been a crucial religious parlance for ages. But Jesus is categorical in stating that nothing as such, that is nothing that separates us from God, exists as such in God's mind. God our Father and Mother,  is all Mercy and compassion!

So, neither death nor defilement can separate me from the Lord, but a deliberate choice does. I cannot live my Christian faith merely on customary practices and accepted mores. I need to make deliberate choices on a daily basis and at every moment of my life... choices that would determine whether I belong to God or no