First Reading - Ezekiel 43:1-7
Gospel - Matthew 23:1-12
The gospel of the day can be divided into two parts: condemnation of Pharisees and scribes and admonition to people and disciples. The first part presents the condemnation of Pharisees and Scribes by Jesus. They are denounced because of their pretentious life. Their pretentious life is seen in their preaching, clothing, desire for honour and respect. Jesus warns people not to be carried away by their appearance and pretentious lifestyle.
The second part of the gospel contains admonition of Jesus to the people and his disciples - not to accept to be called rabbi, father and teacher. Why does Jesus say that? It's because this is how Pharisees and scribes were addressed. The titles of rabbi, father and teacher were honorary titles. The titles gave them greater recognition and identity. Jesus tries to show that among the people or Christians equality and brotherhood must prevail rather than superiority and distinctive categories. Jesus envisages a community of believers who are united in love and brotherhood where God finds a supreme honour as the Rabbi, Father and Teacher.
In the first reading, we encounter the vision of the glory of God settling in the temple which reminds us that God deserves our supreme honour in our lives. The glory of God coming and settling in the temple, as seen by the prophet, displays the grandeur and majesty of God. The temple stands as the place of God's presence. The vision of Ezekiel also affirms that that's the temple, renewed by God, which was once desecrated by people. This vision of Ezekiel also reminds us that God resides in the temple with His presence among the people. Do we give Him honour or we grab is for ourselves? Hypocrisy is a way we can draw attention of people to ourselves than God.
Dear friends, it is undeniable that there are times when we also become pretentious; apparantly very good with others or very spiritual but in reality, our hearts remain distant from God and His ways. Why this happens with us? Perhaps we want to show ourselves superior and better than others or else we want to hide a dark side of our lives. Jesus invites us today to live our lives genuinely without any deceit or pretence. The pretence can win us admiration from people for sometimes but genuine life will win favour from God. Jesus, in the gospel, recommends us to live genuinely by overcoming superficiality and superiority of our lives by building a harmonious community of brotherhood among all.
We all have a dark side of our life. This dark side, which St. Paul mentions as "thorn of my flesh", shows our weaknesses and shortcomings. At times, we want to hide this side of our lives rather than try to overcome it by our constant effort. They are indeed required because they make us humble before God. They are given to us so that we may understand our brothers and sisters who fall due to their weaknesses. It's here we are able to make a community of equals with the existing bonding of love and brotherhood.
May God help us live a genuine life.
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