First Reading - Isaiah 1:10,16-20
Gospel - Matthew 23:1-12
The first reading constitutes a vigorous attack on hypocrisy of the leaders of Israel. It is a summon announced to the leaders of Jerusalem to appear in court before the Lord and justify their conduct. They are called ‘rulers of Sodom’ and ‘people of Gomorrah’ to stress that, for all their sacrifices and pious practices, they are no better than the leaders of those two most wicked of cities, destroyed by fire and brimstone. These two mythical cities serve as cyphers for everything evil. (The land at the southern end of the Dead Sea is particularly barren and utterly inhospitable. It is easy to imagine that such a landscape is being punished for crime. Nothing grows there, no sign of life, no sea-birds, no insects even survive in the salt-laden atmosphere produced by the evaporation of the enclosed sea so far below ‘sea level’, notoriously the lowest point on earth. It is not clear what the final crime of these cities was – leave it as the worst thing you can imagine.)
The prophet stirs the leaders of Israel to the life of repentance by refraining from evil, oppressive ruling, and doing injustice to the poor, orphans, and widows. Thus, the invitation to repentance, for which prophet challenges the leaders, entails doing good, seeking justice, being just, helping the oppressed, and pleading for the widow. Such signs of repentance, the prophet assures, will certainly do them good and wash them from their abominable sins and make them clean before the Lord. Lastly, the prophet warns the rulers or leaders, if they persist in doing evil, they will be destroyed in their sins, whereas repentance of their heart will find God's forgiveness and bring them prosperity.
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 admonitions 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.
Dear friends, it is undeniable that there are times when we also become pretentious; apparently very good with others or very spiritual but in reality, our hearts remain distant from God and His ways. Why does this happen 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. Isaiah, in the first reading, invites the leaders to the life of repentance or renewed life of genuineness and 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 lives. This dark side, 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 efforts by turning to God in repentance and humility. 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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