Reflection for October 14, Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 11:42-46

Gospel: Luke 11:42-46

The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” 

Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

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Reflection:

Are you a good leader? For example in your house do you walk your talk or do you lead by example? 

We read in the gospel that Jesus is angry with the Pharisees and with the teachers of the law. Why? It’s for the reason of their superficial practice of faith and leadership. The Pharisees were supposed to be the leaders of their community and therefore it was expected of them that they will lead by example. 

They love to lead and tell people what to do but it stops there. When it comes to living their faith they’re deficient. Jesus wants them to walk their talk and to lead by example. Unfortunately the Pharisees and the teachers of Law are not like that in the gospel.  

A good leader leads by example; he doesn’t only give orders he also shows the way. A good leader should not only be superficial in his actions he must walk his talk even if nobody is watching him. A good and exemplary leader must not make promises that he/she will not fulfill. Some of the Pharisees were the personification of fake leadership and exterior show of piety. 

It is very important that we live our faith and we practice what we preach. These were the factors that moved Jesus to give His woes to the Pharisees and the scholars of the law. They were supposed to be role models but they were only good at telling their subjects to do this and that but when it comes to doing it themselves they were inadequate. 

The very clear lesson for us is this: We must practice and live what we learn about our faith. We must not limit ourselves to giving orders, we must lead and show the way. – Marino J. Dasmarinas