Gospel: Matthew
23:27-32
Jesus
said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like
whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full
of dead men's bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear
righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
"Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the
prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had
lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding
the prophets' blood.' Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the
children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors
measured out!"
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Reflection:
A woman was
swept off her feet by her handsome and rich suitor. To make a long story short
she married this handsome and rich man. After a few months the many
irresponsible behaviors of this man started to unravel before her. Then she
said to herself, if only I did not allow myself to be smitten by his external
appearance I would have been able to avoid this man.
Jesus is
criticizing the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees because they are only
good at what others see on them. They neglect the most important requirement: none
other than interior purity and transformation.
Jesus
would not have minded if the scribes and Pharisees were not able to measure up
to their self-created external standards. For as long as they go through
interior cleansing and do away with whatever that would make them sin. But they
refused to acknowledge the constructive criticism of Jesus, they even have the
temerity to take it against Jesus that’s why they plotted to kill Him.
Somehow
many of us are not alien to this self-righteous behavior of the scribes and
Pharisees. Be presentable outside but neglect the more important aspect of life
which is interior cleansing, renewal and transformation. Nevertheless, we still
have time to hear and act on this call of Jesus.- Marino J. Dasmarinas
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