Mt 23:13-22
13 "I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you
religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to
God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.
15" You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds!
You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him
you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-
damned. 16 "You're hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, 'If
someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that's nothing; but if
he swears with his hand on the Bible, that's serious.' 17
What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the
skin on your hands? 18 And what about this piece of
trivia: 'If you shake hands on a promise, that's nothing; but if you raise
your hand that God is your witness, that's serious'? 19 What
ridiculous hair splitting! What difference does it make whether you shake
hands or raise hands? 20 22 A promise is a promise. What difference
does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of
worship? A promise is a promise. God is present,
watching and holding you to account regardless.
Food for thought!
Woe to them and to us!
You must have heard the expression: Doing the
right thing and doing things right! This expression is about two
attitudes that characterize all of us; we're either on the side doing the
right thing or on the side of doing things right. Today's Gospel is
also about these two attitudes. Jesus is on the side of doing the right thing,
while the so called religious people of his time are after doing things right,
that is, practicing religion according to the laws and traditions of the
elders.
The religious people of Jesus' time were
hypocrites. A hypocrite was an actor,
a pretender, one who acted a part as in theatre,
one who wore a mask to cover his true feelings, one who put on an external show
while inwardly his thoughts and
feelings were very different.
To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were simply
actors. Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the
wearing of elaborate clothes, the meticulous observance of the rules and
regulations of the Law. But in their
hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and
arrogance. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of
elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and
emotions held sway. And that accusation holds good in greater or lesser degree
of anyone who lives life on the assumption that religion consists in external
observances and external acts.
Religion is first and foremost an inside
experience; it is our spirit talking to God, and God talking to our spirit. The
external acts of religion are meant to reflect and mirror the internal acts of
the spirit. Not vice versa. The same with religious rules and regulations;
they're are not meant to complicate but to enhance the inner religious
experience. If and when they begin to compromise religion, they cease to be
relevant.
The Lord save us from hypocrisy, from seeming to be
religious when we are not. Let us strive to really be and not just seem to be
religious, to really be good and not just seem to be good, to really love and
not just seem to love, to be Christians and not just seem to be Christians.
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