Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22 / Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14 (Year A)
To be obstinate means to stubbornly refuse to change one's opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so.
Talking to obstinate people can be more challenging than talking to a wall; at least the wall won't argue with us.
Obstinate people can throw up all sorts of arguments even though we may have the most logical and rational presentation of the topic in question.
In the gospel, we heard that the Pharisees and scribes brought up the issue of that particular tradition of washing hands before eating, and they questioned Jesus as to why His disciples did not keep that tradition. Indirectly they were also bringing Him to task.
The response of Jesus was logical and rational and it puts the issue into perspective and certainly it was an acceptable response.
But it seemed that the Pharisees were shocked with the response of Jesus. Not only did they not accept what Jesus said, they were obstinate in that only they have the right answers and no one else.
Jesus had only this to say about the Pharisees: Leave them alone.
That is certainly good advice for us when we meet obstinate people and it seemed so futile to reason with them.
Yes, it would be better to leave them alone. Better that way than to become obstinate ourselves.
Being obstinate would only alienate ourselves from others and we will end up being lonely.
As Jesus said in the gospel, it is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean. One of the things that comes out of our mouths and makes us unclean is unreasonable statements that make us obstinate.