What does it mean to be scupulous? A person who is scrupulous is said to be diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details. A person who is scrupulous is also known to be very concerned to avoid doing wrong. Sometimes in the process of trying to avoid any wrong doing, such persons may end up following rules and regulations according to the letter of the law, and not according to the spirit of the law. A scrupulous person may be so concerned with the action and fail to be loving, compassionate, or merciful. This is the situation that the Pharisees had gotten themselves into. They were more concerned about appearing to be good and upright in following the law, that they had become cold, indifferent and calculative in being charitable towards others.
In today's Gospel, Jesus told the people: "What goes into the mouth does not make a man unclean; it is what comes out of the mouth that makes him unclean." Jesus was admonishing the Pharisees for only being concerned with the tradition of the elders such as ritual cleansing before a meal, but the Pharisees did not see any problem or wrongdoing when it came to words they uttered, words of condemnation, or hurtful sayings they may have committed along the way. What about us? Have we become so scrupulous like the Pharisees, only concerned about the externals, that we forget that our attitude, behaviour and way of life have become a contradiction to the values of the Gospel?
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