Denunciation of hypocrisy

Wednesday, August 27, 2014
21stWeek in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
2 Thes 3:6-10, 16-18
Gospel:Mt 23:27-32

Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs beautiful in appearance, but inside there are only dead bones and uncleanness. In the same way you appear as religious to others, but you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness within.

“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. You say: Had we lived in the time of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in the blood of prophets. So, you yourselves confess to be kins of those who murdered the prophets. And now, finish off what your ancestors began!”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Book of Numbers 19: 16 provides that anyone who touches a cadaver becomes unclean. To the Jews, being unclean meant exclusion from the community. Thus, it was common practice to paint white the tombs located along the roads so that people would not touch them accidentally especially when on pilgrimage to the great Passover Feast.

Jesus used this to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, comparing them to whitewashed tombs. The comparison was perfect, for the Pharisees gave too much attention to externalities.
The Pharisees did everything to paint their image white to forget the shameful historical truth that they were descendants of those who had ordered the killing of the prophets. They even built the monuments of these prophets. But Jesus exposed them by saying that in building monuments to the prophets killed by their ancestors, they were, in effect, admitting that they were sons of murderers. Hypocrisy may hide the truth from fellow human beings but never from God.

We too can be hypocrites in many ways. Yes our churches are filled on Sundays, and novena booklets and rosaries are selling like hotcakes. But this is no guarantee of genuine faith. A story is told of a group of masked men who entered a church brandishing long firearms. At gun point they told the church assembly: Those who are not Christians may exit quietly. In a few minutes, the assembly was greatly reduced and only a few old ones remained. Removing their masks, they told the minister presiding over the ceremony: Go ahead with the service now, for we have already driven away the hypocrites.

While we are all hypocrites in many ways, conversion is within reach because God makes his grace available to those who strive to be as clean inside as they are outside. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website:www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT at i-send sa 4467.