31ST SUNDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.

31ST SUNDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.

THEME: INDICTMENT OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS

By Rev. Sylvanus Amaobi.

(1st Reading, Mal. 1:14-2:2,8-10; 2nd Reading, 1 Thess. 2:7-9,13; Gosp., Mtt. 23:1-12)

Dear brothers and sisters, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Today’s readings fault the religious leaders and their actions. It is a cause for concern since they were expected to know and act better. In the first reading, God, through His Prophet, Malachi, warns the Priests who have refused to listen and give glory to the name of the Lord of Hosts. These Priests have turned aside from the right way, caused many to falter by their instructions, and have made void the covenant of Levi, the covenant of God. To these “renegade Priests,” who have fallen from their duties, the Lord calls out and threatens to send a curse upon them instead of a blessing. Similarly, Jesus Christ calls out the Pharisees and Scribes, who failed to live up to their expectations.

The Pharisees and the Scribes were the elites of the Jewish community of Jesus Christ’s era. They were zealous for the Law of Moses and prided themselves on keeping the laws. They also considered themselves the guardians of the tradition and worked towards upholding the traditional practices and beliefs. These positive attitudes notwithstanding, Jesus continues to call out the Pharisees and the Scribes for their excesses, arrogance, pride, and hypocrisy.

WALK THE TALK!

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus warns His listeners and indeed us not to follow the examples of the Pharisees and the Scribes. This is because they do not practice what they preach, and they tie up heavy burdens that are hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. Also, everything they do is done to attract attention, and they want a place of honor at banquets and synagogues (churches) and be greeted obsequiously or in special ways.

Jesus wants us to desist from living the prideful and hypocritical life of the Pharisees and Scribes. He wants us to stop doing things just to receive praise from people and seek unnecessary admiration, too. We should do things with only one reason in mind: to please God, our Father “who sees in secret,” … and our Father who sees in secret will reward us (Matt. 6:1- 6). Jesus Christ wants us to be ourselves before God and people instead of projecting who we are not. Such an attitude of projection is pretense, and pretense is hypocrisy. He wants us to stop living a life of show-off and deception.

Our actions must match our words. We must walk our talk. The Pharisees and the Scribes did not do this, but the Lord expects us to do it. No matter our status, my brothers and sisters, no matter our leadership positions, Jesus wants us to live a servant-like life and cultivate the attitude of humility. He wants us to live and lead by example. He tells us, “The greatest among you must be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Always remember that Jesus loves you!

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