Scripture: Matthew 23:27-32
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like white washed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31 Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
Meditation: How can you tell if someone is real or fake, genuine or counterfeit? Outward appearances can be deceptive. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:3-4). The heart reveals the true intentions and attitudes that form the way we think of others and treat them. Jesus used strong language to warn the religious leaders and teachers about the vanity of outward appearance and pretense - wearing a mask that hides the true intentions and thoughts of the heart. In Palestine tombs were often placed by the sides of roads. They were painted white which made them glisten in the midday sun, especially around the time of the great feasts, so that people would not accidentally touch them and incur ritual impurity.
True beauty and goodness come from within
Jesus equates true beauty and goodness with
a clean heart and mind that is set on God and his way of love and
goodness and sin with a corrupt mind and heart that is set on
doing what is wrong and evil. Jesus issued a stern warning to the
scribes and Pharisees not to condemn them but to call them to
examine their hearts in the light of God's truth and holiness.
Jesus called them hypocrites because their hearts were set on
pleasing themselves rather than God. A hypocrite is an actor or
imposter who says one thing but does the opposite or who puts on
an outward appearance of doing good while inwardly clinging to
wrong attitudes, selfish desires and ambitions, or bad intentions.
Many scribes and Pharisees had made it a regular practice to
publicly put on a good show of outward zeal and piety with the
intention of winning greater honors, privileges, and favors among
the people.
Sin is ugly because it corrupts heart and mind
Jesus warns that what truly corrupts a person is not external
ritual impurity but the impurity of wrong and sinful attitudes
that come from within a person's mind and heart - such as pride,
greed, sloth, envy, hatred, gluttony, and lust - these are what
produce sinful habits (vices) and ways of speaking, acting,
judging, and treating others. That is why every good deed is
beautiful in God's sight and every wrong or sinful deed is ugly in
his sight. The scribes and Pharisees were intensely religious in
their outward observances, but their outward show didn't match the
inner reality of the state of their minds and hearts. They not
only neglected the poor and the weak, but they were intolerant
towards anyone who challenged their idea of religion. That is why
so many of the prophets in past ages - who warned about tolerating
evil desires and unjust behavior towards one's neighbor - were
persecuted and even killed by their own rulers and people.
Jesus chastised the religious leaders for being double-minded and
for demanding from others standards which they refused to satisfy.
They professed admiration for the prophets who spoke God's word by
building tombs in their honor. But their outward show of respect
did not match their inward refusal to heed the prophets' warning
to turn away from sinful attitudes and from neglecting to lead
their people - through teaching and their own example - in God's
way of love and holiness of life. They shut themselves to heaven
and they hindered others from growing in the knowledge of God's
truth and goodness. They rejected Jesus as their Messiah because
their hearts were blinded and hardened to the voice of God.
The Holy Spirit renews the heart and mind
True beauty, goodness, and piety come from within - from
a heart that is set on pleasing God and a mind that is set on
hearing and obeying God's word. Jesus came to set us free from
slavery to sin and harmful habits and addictions that lead us into
wrong and sinful ways of thinking, acting, and relating to others.
Only the humble of heart can receive from God true wisdom and
understanding, pardon and healing. The Holy Spirit is ever ready
to renew our minds and hearts and to lead us in God's way of love
and holiness. Ask the Holy Spirit to purify your heart and mind
and to fill you with the power of God's love and goodness.
"Lord Jesus, incline my heart to your wisdom and teach me your ways. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may love your ways and obey your word."
Psalm 139:1-3,7-12
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known
me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my
thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted
with all my ways.
7 Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee
from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol,
you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall
hold me.
11 If I say, "Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me
be night,"
12 even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is bright as
the day; for darkness is as light with you.
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Good deeds done for God, author unknown, from the 5th century A.D.
"Every good deed that is done for God is universally good for
everything and everyone. Deeds that are not seen to benefit
everything and everyone, however, are done on account of man, as
the present matter itself demonstrates. For example, those who
build reliquaries and adorn churches seem to be doing good. If
they imitate the justice of God, if the poor benefit from their
goods and if they do not acquire their goods through violence
against others, it is clear that they are building for the glory
of God. If they fail to observe God’s justice... and if the poor
never benefit from their goods and if they acquire their goods
from others by means of violence or fraud, who is so foolish not
to understand that they are building for human respect rather than
for the glory of God? Those who build reliquaries in a just manner
ensure that the poor do not suffer as a result of it. For the
martyrs do not rejoice when they are honored by gifts for which
the poor paid with their tears. What kind of justice is it to give
gifts to the dead and to despoil the living or to drain blood from
the poor and offer it to God? To do such things is not to offer
sacrifice to God but to attempt to make God an accomplice in
violence, since whoever knowingly accepts a gift which was
acquired by sinful means participates in the sin." (excerpt
from an incomplete Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, HOMILY
45)
Scripture quotations from Common Bible:
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright
1973, and Ignatius Edition of the Revised Standard
Version of the Bible, copyright 2006, by the
Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the United
States of America. Used by permission. All rights
reserved. Citation references for quotes from
the writings of the early church fathers can be
found here.
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