Gospel MT 23:23-26
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Reflection:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.”
Jesus really lays into the scribes and Pharisees. He criticizes them for giving great importance to small things and ignoring that which is more important.
“You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.”
In today’s language it would be the same as telling a person to their face, “You are a big phony.”
Jesus minces no words when he tells them they are “blind” and acting as “hypocrites.”
He even uses the phrase, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,” calling down misfortune upon them.
In truth, when I read this passage, I experience a certain perverse pleasure, much as I did as a child when my parents really laid into one of my brothers or sisters for something they did wrong.
In Latin, the term is “delectation morosa,” i.e., taking pleasure from someone else’s misfortune.
However, I would quickly come back to my senses when my mother noticed the smug look on my face and said, “Don’t look so happy, Jimmy boy. You better straighten up or you’re going to get it next.”
And, therein lies the real value of this gospel. Rather than gloating over the faults of the scribes and Pharisees, this passage should call me to “self examination,” to look within myself.
Many times, in years gone by, I have thrown a buck in the basket on Sunday and then walked by a homeless person on the street; “paying tithes on mint and neglecting mercy.”
There were times back in my drinking days when I showed up for mass wearing my Sunday best after a night out on the town doing what I shouldn’t have been doing; “cleaning the outside of the cup but full of plunder and self indulgence.”
In reading this gospel, I am best served to remember Christ’s words in Matthew 7:1-3, “Judge not that you not be judged.”
“Or how can you say to your neighbor, Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Luke 6:42