Woe or Wow?

When I was but a young lad, one of the things that I remember fondly from that time was, when our extended family came together, to celebrate with love, major celebrations like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  And outside of helping my mom in the kitchen (where I learned my love of baking) the other thing that I loved to help with, was polishing the silverware.  I can just hear your groans now, “Yuck – who likes polishing silverware?”

Yet, for me, there was something peaceful, almost meditative as I used the sliver polish and wiped away the tarnish uncovering the glittering, gleaming, silver underneath.  I always took delight in the mirror like finish that emerged, for when it caught the light the silverware shone like the sun.

Our gospel for the day reminded me of this fond memory.  For instead of the Pharisees seeing the beauty of the human beings before them, they could not see beyond Jesus’s disciples eating with dirty, ‘unclean’ hands.  The Pharisees could only see Jesus’ followers tarnishing Jewish religious traditions.  Their judging hearts remained in a state of disgust.  Instead of seeing, the shining human being underneath, they judged not only the hands of those eating as unclean, but the person eating with dirty hands as unclean as well.
Jesus, in our gospel, responds with a sharp laser focus challenge.  Jesus challenged the attitude of the Pharisees, perhaps even challenges us.  Is God only a word we utter on Sunday at Mass, while hate and judgment still live in our hearts, or as people of faith do we find the love of God each day in our hearts as well?  Do we see only the tarnish in life, in others, and find our hard hearts quick to judge, quick to cry out in anguish ‘woe’ am I? 
On the other hand, can we be a people of faith seeing beyond the tarnish of life and see instead the possibility that lives underneath.  Can we love like Jesus and work to wipe away hearts, minds, and a world who sees only tarnish and uncover the shining beauty in God’s creation, all of God’s creation, even in the people God’s has graced us with in our life? 
Can we, with hearts transformed by the truth of this God of love find our hearts bursting also with love and gratitude?  Perhaps, we can take inspiration then from King Solomon, from our reading of 1 Kings, who God graced with wisdom and understanding, who looked back on his life and found his heart filled with love and gratitude for God’s many graces.  Solomon’s life shone with a heartfelt ‘wow’ at God’s goodness.
The choice is always ours – woe or wow!