Paul, in rejecting circumcision, denounces the power of the Law to save. In fact he emphasises that the Law enslaves rather than frees us. In a scathing attack on the Judaisers – those who insist that Christian converts have to first become Jews and observe Jewish customs – Paul charges them as having “fallen from grace”. He insists that circumcision – an external sign - “counts for nothing”. What matters is God’s free grace which produces “faith working in love”.

Jesus, in the Gospel, reiterates the same theme of an internal transformation. Calling out the Pharisees as purely ritualistic people who “wash the outside of the cup and dish but are internally full of plunder and evil”, Jesus points out to a simple remedy - almsgiving – a giving of “what is within” the cup and dish. This is an antidote to selfishness and constitutes love in action.

Have I imprisoned myself in empty rituals, or do I give meaning to the rituals by allowing God to transform me from within?