31st Sunday in ordinary time
Once again we remember all those who are in the War torn parts of the world as we continue our prayers for peace in so many places especially in Ukraine and the Holy Land. At the start of November as we begin the month of the Holy Souls we remember the faithful departed members of our families, friends, fellow parishioners as well as those who have no one to pray for them may they rest in peace in the kingdom of God. The Religious leaders do not come off too well in this Sundays first and Gospel readings. Jesus is not accusing them of not knowing their religion. They knew it very well. They were even good at teaching it to others; it is just that they didn’t practice what they preached. In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus warns against this kind of leadership. The atmosphere of hostility towards the religious leaders is evident in this Gospel reading. The scribes and Pharisees are presented as bad examples of religious leadership. Jesus is presented as engaging in violent caricature, arousing the crowds to condemn the scribes and Pharisees. It is a tense and angry scene in which Jesus makes sweeping generalisations: “Everything they do is done to attract attention…”.
Obviously, there were many scribes and Pharisees who were upright and good holy men. Matthew is warning against attitudes and practices which are not peculiar to any religious group they could apply to anyone at any time even to us today. The scribes and Pharisees happen to serve as useful examples especially since at the time of writing they represent the style of leadership Matthew is opposed to within his church. Authority in any organisation, the Church included, is meant to be a gift and used well. It is meant to be shown in loving service in support of others, not in domination and control. It’s just not good enough to make people simply comply and obey. People may do that on the outside, while on the inside they are seething with rage and resentment which always boils over. The challenge for all Christian people is to get others onside, to win their hearts and minds, to persuade and convince them that following Jesus is the right thing to do. Again and again in his teaching Jesus insists that we must not dominate, lord it over, or oppress others! He teaches over and over again that God invites and calls us to follow him! He teaches us that the greatest in any group are those who love and serve the others! Jesus challenges us to go along the way of humility because, whether we are mindful of it or not, as baptised Christians we represent Christ in the world today.
Jesus challenges all who believe in him because he has high expectations of us as he expects us to be servants not masters. Even though the Gospel for this Sunday is addressed to the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, it is also addressed to all of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus who are followers of the way. We must be willing to put everything behind us that prevents us from living in the humble way that Jesus modelled for us. The true way of life for any Christian must reflect the life of Christ. With Christ as our teacher we learn the ways of wisdom and love. We learn how to live, not by the values of the world, but by the values of the Spirit of god. So today as we reflect on the various things that are going on in our own lives and the world let us remember that we are called to be the humble face of Jesus where we are and not be afraid to pass the good news of the gospel to those we meet when we get the chance wherever we are in the world.
Fullerton T 