23-Aug-16

Gospel MT 23:23-26

Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Reflection:
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law...."
The Pharisees and scribes were meticulous in tithing, giving ten percent of all they earned back to God.
However, they would not come to the assistance of an injured fellow Jew whom they considered to be "unclean."
It would be very easy as well as dangerous for me to read today's gospel and shake my head in dismay at the foolishness of the Pharisees and scribes.
For I, too, am quite capable of doing the same thing.
I have put money in the cup of a street person, and in the same day, refused to once again pay a poor relative's utility bill out of concern they're taking advantage of me.
Then, I appease my conscience by telling myself, "I don't want to enable them."
It seems that the Pharisees and scribes are not alone in being,
"Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!"
"You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
The "outside" of my cup may appear clean to those who observe me, but only God and I know what is truly in my heart.
"Rather that I be dressed in rags and pure of heart than suffer the pain of hypocrisy while wearing the finest robe." - - Abdul Najjar