YEAR B: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Mt. 23:13-22) Monday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time, Memorial Of St. Monica

In today’s Gospel Jesus gives a lesson on the leaven of the Pharisees. They were guilty of saying one thing but doing another. They failed to teach what they preached. Thus, their credibility suffered before the Jews much more to Jesus.

The Gospels were accounts of what the evangelists saw and heard from Jesus. Not everything Jesus said and done were captured and written. But they were enough for us to have a grasp of Jesus’ person and teaching, and to attain salvation. There are times when we will be disturbed with what Jesus said and what were written by the Gospel writers. We cannot reject them. They are part of Jesus’ whole teaching. Either we accept everything or we cannot hold on to one thing.

Jesus cited a lot of the hypocrisies of the religious leaders of His time. They were so graphic that the people easily understood Him and the guilty religious leaders were embarrassed. It was part of the reason why they plotted and succeeded to kill Him. Jesus paid dearly for His expositions on them. But, for Jesus, there is nothing He would not do for our salvation.

Hypocrisy is a real challenge for believers. Jesus knew that. That was why He was courageous to cite this sin of the religious leaders of His time. He understood their situation. But He would not succumb to their weakness. His attack on them was to cure them of their blindness and help them change. The Pharisees were really good people. But they were victims of their own greed, lust, avarice, etc. Those who listen to Him will find their way back. The stone-hearted will continue to be softened by His love. We do not deny our hypocrisy. But we cannot linger with it. We ought to address it. Hypocrisy has no place in the Kingdom. With God’s grace, we can overcome it.