Reflection - We think with our heart

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020817.cfm
Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17
Mark 7:14-23

The modern American menu makes it difficult to relate to a people from a different age who had serious rules on what should and should not be eaten. This morning 's selection from Mark's Gospel is the conclusion of an extended exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees on the subject. The text follows upon the Pharisees' objection to the behavior of the disciples: they didn't wash their hands before eating. Now my mother used to be adamant about that practice. More than once I was told to wash my hands before supper --- and we used knives, forks and spoons, whereas the disciples just used their hands. So, maybe hand-washing isn't a bad idea. Nevertheless, It's a conversation in Scripture we've heard before, and we need not rummage around in that conflict again today. But Jesus' comments to the disciples, which conclude that longer conversation and which are at the core of today's text, do demand additional consideration. His observations change the whole character of the discussion. He clearly insists: it is not what goes in, but what comes out that is important.

In reflecting on Jesus' teaching, I realized that I had been reading over what he actually said and had mentally substituted something slightly, but significantly different. His words, as recorded by Mark are these:  "But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, comes evil."

In my mind, hearts are normally associated with sentiment and emotion. (St Valentine gets only partial credit for that.) The head is normally associated with logic, the rational and decision making, and I would have expected Jesus to place the source of evil actions in the mind, not the heart. Jesus implicitly rejects that division. The discrepancy between my expectation and what he said became apparent to me when examining his list of what comes out of a man. Half from the list are clearly actions: unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, deceit, blasphemy; the other half are attitudes or character traits that are exposed by and subsequently recognized in actions. 

I had not thought of my heart in connection with my actions, except maybe those impulsive actions that follow from strong emotions. I think of myself as a rational, thoughtful sort of guy, one whose actions are largely guided by reason --- by my head, not by my heart. Consequently, Jesus' statement that the actions he lists come from the heart struck me as peculiar and it seemed worth ascertaining whether Jesus' line of thought was common in Scripture.

(I'm always amazed at how quickly the Spirit can answer a question about Scripture.) The search was brief. The Psalm for morning prayer on the day I was writing had this to say on the subject:

The wicked man boasts of his heart’s desires.
He thinks in his heart: 'God forgets,
he hides his face, he does not see.'

And then the same Psalm concludes with: 

"The Lord teaches the humble his way.
— He guides the gentle-hearted along the right path."

So, in praying the office, a Scriptural affirmation of the meaning of Jesus' words confronted me. "The wicked man thinks in his heart." And what is that 'heart-thought'? It is that God is not near to me. For whatever reason, I am alone and without God. 

The Lord's teaching, on the other hand, is directed to the gentle-heart. And what is the 'heart-thought'? It is that God is present with me to guide me and show me the way. That's what the Psalm said. It sounded a lot like what Jesus said. I had not looked at things that way before. Thinking in the heart? Teaching directed to the heart?

A period of deliberation led me to consider that there is a significant degree of "heart-thought" in all of us. It's that thinking that originates in the core of our being, the thinking that flows from the kind of person we are. It's not the thinking that follows Aristotelian logic or any other kind of logic. It's not the thinking that brings us to understand that one and one equals two or that E = MC2. Rather, it's the kind of thinking that may be burdened from unhealed pain and lead to self entrapment in a protective cage. Or it's the kind of thinking that is free because it remembers having received mercy and thus extends mercy to others. It's the kind of thinking which can only make sense when we're aware of and accept the fact that the heart has its reasons which the mind cannot know.

Ultimately I reviewed other Scripture texts with which I was familiar and where the heart was mentioned. I looked at several and settled on one. In the book of Jeremiah we read the following. 

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel says
the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their
hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
     Jeremiah 31:33

The reason I selected this text was that I was aware that a good understanding of its teaching had, for years, eluded me. You would think that, if God wanted people to remember his law, then He would write it on their minds, not their hearts. Approaching the verse in this way led me to assume that God was just speaking figuratively. He would actually write it in their minds but wanted them to have a positive attitude toward it. So he said he was going to write it upon their hearts. That's why the reference to the heart. Such was not the case. He meant exactly what he said.

My heart, not my mind, is at the core of me being. It is from my heart that good or evil flow. Yes, my mind may ruminate for minutes, days, even years over the best way to accomplish the desire of my heart; but the person that I am, with my heart as it's center, determines my choice of good or evil. That's why the Lord had to write his law on my heart. 

That's why Jesus cautioned his disciples:

"Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life."
     Luke 21:34

That's why he sought to reassure us all: 

"Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
     John 14:27