A Cycle – 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time 23

Mt. 23:1-12

Many of you know that my background includes more than 40 years in manufacturing.  More than half of those 40 years were spent as a General Manager in charge of the total operation.   One of the things I did in that capacity for more than half my working life was to focus on ensuring continual improvement in all aspects of the business.   For the business to be successful and grow we could not allow any aspect of our business to become satisfied with the status quo.  It was never acceptable to just maintain what we were doing very successfully.  Being good was not acceptable, we needed to continually improve, or we would begin to deteriorate.  Being good is the enemy of getting better.

In today’s gospel, we once again hear Jesus chastising the Pharisees.

 It is easy for us to disregard these passages because they seem to be addressed to religious leaders.  It is easy for us to mentally think that these passages should be heeded by our ordained ministers, priests, and deacons.   But the scriptures were given to us to help us encounter God and to help us live our lives in a manner that reflects the best we can be as disciples and followers of Jesus.

In order see how to do that we need to understand a little of how the Pharisees got to where they were.  Strictly following more than the law required but doing it in a way that showed that they prided themselves on how “pious” they were.

To know how they prided themselves on their strict adherence to the law and looked down on those who did not you only need to read the book of Maccabees. In the two books of Maccabees, at a time 150 years before Christ, a group of pious men who were the champions of the faith.  These pious Jews resisted the attempts by the Greeks to force them to conform to the Greek way of worshiping many gods.  Maccabees tells us of the military and spiritual resistance of faithful Jews who stood against the Greeks to preserve the faith of Israel.  Those Jews in Maccabees evolved into the class of religious leaders called Pharisees. 

Yet it is apparent that by the time of Christ, something was radically wrong with their hearts.  It is apparent they gave in to the insidious sin of spiritual pride.  They were held in high esteem because of their position, their knowledge, their teaching, and their ability to follow God’s laws.  It is something we too can be guilty of because of our faithfulness.  It is something we all can easily fall into as we faithfully follow the laws of God.  We, every one of us, can be guilty of spiritual pride and we need to heed these words of Jesus.  

Like all successful people, in business, politics, sports and as husbands and wives there is a tendency to look at others and their failings and pat ourselves on the back because we are not like them.  When we see their failings, we take pride in that we are better than they are. We can have spiritual pride in our parish and that is easy with a parish as vibrant as ours.

When we see the obvious failings of others and know we are not failing like they are, we should seek to find ways to help them not condemn them.  But instead of doing anything to help we praise ourselves. Reinforce our impression of our own righteousness and we feel better about ourselves – pride creeps in. But does God look at us that way? Spiritual pride Jesus is telling us is a deadly sin.

 It is easy for us to believe we are righteous because of our faithfulness and strict adherence to the law.  But does God look at us that faithfulness as a good thing or does He see the source of our pride as a serious flaw because it says we do not need God because we can be holy by our obedience.   

It is easy for us to look at ourselves and see how we use our time and talent to serve the church; to be active in ministry doing good for the parish or doing good for others in need. We easily see how we are using our gifts and talents to serve.  But does God look at us that way or does he see how easily we succumb to those who applaud us for what we do.

Praise can be addictive and can easily lead us to pride in how faithful we are. God demands more than showing up; God demands our hearts united with Him in praise and worship.  In doing His will not ours. In following His voice and totally giving of ourselves because it ignites the hearts of others who desperately need a savior.    

Instead, today’s reading being about the Pharisees and saying we are glad we are not like them, we need to look at Mary and ask ourselves one question. Are we like her in our attitude?  Mary, when praised by Elizabeth, redirected the praise to God.  Instead of becoming prideful that she was chosen to be the Mother of God, she gave God the glory. She humbly said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my savior. For He who is mighty has done great things and Holy is His name.”  

Her attitude is the interior attitude we all need in serving God and how we respond to those who would elevate us with their praise.