GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 30TH AUGUST 2017
WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING: 1Thessalonians 2:9-13
PSALM: Psalm139:7-12
GOSPEL: Matthew 23:27-32
THEME: BE REAL
A hypocrite is like the proverbial ostrich that hides the head in the sand thinking that nobody will see it but forgets that her whole body is out there in full public glare.
According to Jewish Law (cf. Num 19:11-20), contact with the dead makes one temporarily unclean. Hence, it is customary among Jews to whitewash tombs to make them visible so that no one would inadvertently step on or come into contact with them so as not to contract ritual uncleanness. Jesus, in the Gospel text, likens the scribes and Pharisees to these tombs: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to others, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Mat 23:27-28).
Jesus goes ahead and concludes the set of “seven woes” against the Pharisees (cf. Mat 23:13-32) with a characterization of them as people belonging to a family of murderers (cf. Mat 23:29-32). This final woe is the most serious indictment of all.
Hypocrisy is an affront to truth. From the utterances attributed to Jesus in the Gospel text, it is evident that he has a zero tolerance for hypocrisy and expresses his utter disgust when he sees it.
There is no point faking in life. Let us be real and present ourselves as we truly are. The energy we invest into pretending can be channelled into working on ourselves in order to become better persons.
PRAYER: “O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away…If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you” (Ps.139).
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St Arnold Janssen).