25th AUGUST IN WEEK 21

1.Thessalonians 2:1-8

2.Matthew 23:23-26

MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

" Back to essentials"

When it happens that somebody comes to you and tells you straight to your face: "Plastic ka!" wouldn't you be offended and angry? this expression is used to refer to someone who is perceived to be insincere or simply faked. When we hear someone being spoken of 'plastic' it means he/she is hypocrite. The word hypocrite, as we all know, means actor or someone who puts on a show to draw attention to themselves. The gospel today shows Jesus renouncing the hypocrisy of the scribes and pharisees of his time. Their pretensions have become obstacles on the path to true knowledge.

From the gospel account we should bear in our minds that Jesus does not condemn the scribes and Pharisees for tithing but for putting importance on the wrong thing which is external details of the like: cleaning outside of the cup and dish and others because this is seen. Their lack of faith, critical thoughts, critical thoughts, lack of mercy, greed and self indulgence are not seen thus they do not give them importance. It is under this background that Jesus is calling them hypocrites because they neglect the more important matters of religion such as justice, mercy, fidelity, and the love of God. They were very attentive to the minute matters of little importance like paying tithes of mint, dill and cumin but they neglect to care for the needy and the weak. They put unnecessary burdens on others while neglecting to show charity especially to the weak and the poor.

We are invited to meditate upon being masters of outward religiosity with no inward reality. We need to be people of actions than mere words. A concrete example of this kind of hypocrisy spoken in the gospel today is Adolf Hittler. From one of the sources, ' today in the World' it was stated that Hitler made free use of Christian vocabularies. He talked about blessing of the almighty and the Christian confessions which would become the pillars of his new government. He assumed the earnestness of man weighed down by historical responsibility. He handed out pious stories to the press, especially to the church papers. He showed his tattered Bible and declared that he drew strength  for his great work from it. With this reason scores of pious people welcomed him as a man sent from God. Practically as it is well known, Adolf Hittler was a master of outward religiosity with no inward reality.

The background of Jesus criticizing the pharisees can be traced from prophet Micah's understanding of what God desires for us, " to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." The people were too preoccupied about what kind of animal sacrifice should be offered to God. Micah held that this preoccupation is wide of the mark, it missed the real point of religion. Furthermore, it does not correspond to what God wants. Jesus stands in the line of the prophet to bring people back to what was really important, what really mattered to God. As disciples of Jesus we have to keep on returning to essentials, to what is the heart of message of Jesus, what is at the heart of God.

The point of departure and return from Jesus' teaching about hypocrisy is the essence of God's commandments of love, that is love of God and love of neighbor. God is love and everything  he does flows from his love for us. Love is sacrificial; it both embraces and lifts the burdens of others. Do you allow the love of God to transform your mind and heart?