Homily for
October 30, 2005 Liturgical Year
A-Cycle I 31st Sunday in
Ordinary Time by Fr. Joshua Nyoni
Topic: Hypocrisy & Pretense + + +
Reading I Mal
1:14b-2:2b, 8-10
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared
among the nations. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If
you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my
name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your
blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and
have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the
covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I, therefore, have made you
contemptible and base before all the people, since you do not keep my
ways, but show partiality in your decisions. Have we not all the one
father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with
one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
Gospel Mt
23:1-12 Jesus spoke to
the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and
observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their
example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up
heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are
performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen
their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of
honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation
'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one
teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your
father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master';
you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must
be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever
humbles himself will be exalted."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
readings today present us
with a contrast between the proud leadership of Israel and
the humility that is the hallmark of the
followers of Christ. The prophet Malachi sternly addresses the
corruption of
the priests of his own day who were acting in an unworthy manner: “You
do
not find it in your heart to glorify my name, says the Lord of Hosts”
[Mal
2:2]. Their bad administration led the people astray because they did
not
reflect the love and obedience that is the proper response to the
loving care
of God the Father. St
Paul
witnesses to the true intention that must motivate
someone with responsibility in the church: He says, “We
are eager to
handover to you not only the good news, but our whole lives as well”
[1Thess
2:8]. He commends them on their own response to such love, which he, as
a
minister of Christ has shown towards them in teaching them the truth:
“You
accepted the message for what it really is, God’s message and not some
human
thinking” [1 Thess 2:3]. In the Gospel
reading, Jesus
is hard and condemns those who do not practice what they preach. Jesus
says
that the Scribes and Pharisees “sit on
Moses seat”, meaning they
carry
on Moses’ work, they have authority and speak with Moses’ authority.
Because of
that, Jesus says, “Do whatever they teach you and
follow it;
but do not do
as they do, for they do not practice what they teach”. Strikingly,
Jesus
does not condemn the interpretation of the law offered by the
Pharisees; rather
he condemns their hypocrisy/their pretence. Jesus saw the problem with
the
Pharisees which was that of not being sincere, not being consistent,
something
like there being a distance between their insights and their
performances.
Jesus saw the problem with the Pharisees 2000 years back, and since “History
repeats itself”, Jesus sees
the same problem today in us as Christians, in
us as priests, and he sees our own hypocrisy: we preach one thing and
do the
other: we teach one thing and practice another.
Like the
Pharisees, we fail
to do what we know is right but are busy doing what it takes to gain
the
admiration of our fellow human beings. The deeds we perform are
centered on
being seen by others. Probably there is something Pharisaic in each one
of us.
We need therefore to re-examine ourselves and straighten ourselves.
As we have heard
from the
Gospel, Jesus words turned from the Pharisees to the followers
directly. He
tells us not to seek honorific titles. What Jesus asks of us is to lay
aside
our efforts and claims to authority and honor because the real
authority and
actual honor belongs to God. Moreover, greatness in God’s eyes is in
service: "The
greatest among you will be your servant." In
conclusion,
what is Jesus
calling us to do?
To
realize that if we “sit on Moses seat”, that is, if we have any
authority, be
it in church or in society that authority is not for prestige but for
service.
Jesus
calls us not to be Pharisaic, but to practice what we preach: For
instance,
what we say, we should be the first people to practice it. To be
Christians who
say what they mean and mean what they say.
Jesus
challenges us to be
integral - whole - holy and not hollow, not empty.
May
these thoughts help us to reach the God of Jesus
Christ.