DAILY HOMILIES #scribes

Jesus knew that the Pharisees were following him to find fault with him. He could have chosen the path of diplomacy, pretending he didn’t see the man with a withered hand. He could have signalled this man to meet him secretly, but Jesus chose to heal him publicly. Do not be afraid of what anyone would do to you. Only fear God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Cf. Matthew 10:28)

From Jesus’ response, we learn two important points. One, Jesus is God; He is the long-awaited bridegroom. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Two, God wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth instead of merely observing rules (Cf. John 4:23). There is a difference between worshipping God and following the commandments. This is the difference between the new wineskins and the old wineskins.

In his admonition to the Corinthians, Paul made no negative statement about Apollos, who had been made a rival to him by the people. This is very instructive. It is the devil’s delight to see church leaders quarrel and fight over what they say. Avoid taking sides when people bring gossip; they may be plotting the stage for you to fight with your brother.

To avoid self-deception, Jesus says, “First, clean the inside of the cup.” In other words, the first step to becoming His true followers is to look honestly at ourselves, acknowledge the dirt within our hearts, and clean them up. The problem is that, like the scribes and Pharisees Jesus condemned, we always try to do the opposite; we clean the outside and abandon the inside.

No matter how good you think you are, be open to criticism. Do not surround yourself with sycophants. Cherish and appreciate those who have different opinions; there is always something to learn and something you can improve on. Only a true friend will tell you to your face that you are going the wrong way.

Jesus did not condemn tithing; He said it is less important than justice, mercy, and faith. This means that on the last day, God will never ask why you refused to pay your tithes. Instead, He will ask you why you failed to practice justice, mercy and faith. We will be judged for failing to feed the hungry, giving drinks to the thirsty, visiting the sick and the prisoners, etc. If you do not feel like tithing or you do not believe in it, you are not sinning.

Inspired by their faith, some persons brought a paralysed man to Jesus. Matthew reports that Jesus ‘saw’ their faith. This means faith in God is visible in our actions before or after praying. A certain village experienced drought for some years. The elders met and decided the entire village would gather in the market square on a certain day to pray for rain. As they were about to begin the prayer, they noticed that only one little girl came with an umbrella. They had all come to pray for rain, but only this girl was expecting rain.

Ordinarily, you should assume that when something good happens to you, people should be happy for you. Isn’t it? The bitter truth is that there will always be scribes and Pharisees around us - people who take offence knowing we are happy. They pretend to be our friends, but the moment our status changes (when things improve for us), they show their true colours.

Why is it easy to exercise restraint when others are watching, yet when we are alone (or think no one is watching), we throw caution to the wind? This was the problem of scribes and Pharisees. Jesus told them: “Nothing is hidden that would not be uncovered… even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” Are there things I do in secret that I am ashamed of?

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus likened the Scribes and Pharisees to whitewashed tombs, beautiful from the outside but full of dead men’s bones inside. If people get close to us, would they see something different from what we portray in public?

Sadly, despite the diversity of churches, evil seems to rise in our society. Our real problem is hypocrisy. We are always trying to deceive people when we cannot deceive God.

Jesus’s words must never be taken out of context. Jesus is not against the use of titles. No. Jesus is against answering a name that your actions contradict. Don’t call me Father if I am not behaving like one. I don't deserve such titles if I do not practice what I preach. Jesus is against the worship of human beings. If I do what is wrong, be bold enough to call and correct me. Do not say: “Leave him alone. He is next to God.” Jesus says: “Call no man on earth your God. You have only One God who is in heaven!”