Monday, August 25, 2025

Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(I Thessalonians 1:1-5.8b-10; Matthew 23:13-22)

In today’s gospel Jesus launches a diatribe against the Pharisees.  He accuses them, above all, of being hypocritical -- that is, of saying one thing and doing another. But one should not think that all Pharisees were like this.  In truth, Jesus had friends who were Pharisees and the Pharisaic movement saved Judaism from extinction after Rome destroyed Jerusalem.  Nevertheless, because of the impact of the gospels on Western civilization, the two terms “Pharisees” and “hypocrites” have become virtually synonymous.

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with seven beatitudes designating those who are welcome in the Kingdom of God.  Here he begins his final apocalyptic sermon with seven “woes” indicating those who will be excluded from Paradise.   We hear three of the woes today, two tomorrow, and two on Wednesday at Mass.

Jesus likely intended his diatribe against Judaism – a reformist criticism from a faithful Jew.  However, in Matthew’s gospel it became associated with the scribes and Pharisees because of their reaction against Christians at the time of Matthew’s writing after Jerusalem’s destruction.  The denunciation should also be seen as a warning to Church leaders.  Religious people like us run the danger of using our positive status to exploit others.  True followers of Jesus will realize that transparency and humility are hallmarks of Christian practice.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

 Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 2: 1-2.12-17; Luke 11:1-4)

The word hypocrisy comes from a Greek word meaning to play a part or to pretend.  Hypocrites evidently were originally actors.  In modern parlance hypocrites pretend to be virtuous when they actually are the opposite.  They attempt to deceive.  So when Paul accuses Peter of hypocrisy in today’s reading from Galatians, he is leveling a serious charge.

Peter is caught in the bind between following Jewish custom and living in Christ.  Being a Jew, Peter grew up eating kosher.  But faith in Jesus means that following his ways of sacrificial love, and not a particular diet, brings salvation.  Peter had shown reliance on Christ by taking food freely with non-Jews.  But now in the presence of Jewish Christians he pretends that he would never do such a thing.  This behavior sends a mixed message which, Paul knows, will confuse non-Jews. In Paul’s view the mixed message has brought some Galatians to submit to circumcision rather than to concentrate on following Jesus.

Diametrically different from Peter’s hypocrisy, we likely exhibit the vice by covering up our religiosity.  Catholics who miss Mass on Sundays in order to attend a football game betray their commitment to the Church.  They want to be known as both lovers of God and of the world.  There may be some overlap, but we cannot square a circle.  We must not conform to the world but encourage the world to convert to God.

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

(Isaiah 1:10.16-20; Matthew 23:1-12)

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus wages a war on hypocrisy.  He emphasizes it in the Sermon on the Mount.  There he warns his disciples not to fast, pray, or give alms for show.  In today’s passage he critiques the Pharisees for not practicing what they preach. 

Then Jesus tells his disciples that they are brothers and sisters to on another.  As such, he does not want anyone to assume greater respect or honor than anyone else.  He becomes specific in what this means.  They are not to call one another, “Rabbi,” “teacher,” “master,” or “father.”  These titles are used among the Pharisees to covet honor. 

We in the Church have not taken Jesus literally in this command.  Teachers inside the Church abound.  Priests are almost universally called “Father.”  The transgressions on the part of the people may be readily forgiven.  They have a long tradition and often give comfort to those who seek spiritual wisdom.  But clericalism – the pretension that priests are better and more deserving of honor than lay persons – is a tragic sin.  It is tragic because Orders is a sacrament of service, not of domination.  It is a sin because it subverts the unity Jesus intends among his disciples.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 2:1-11; Luke 11:42-46)

The English word hypocrite is derived from a Greek word of similar pronunciation.  The ancient form designated people who interpreted their situations to determine how they were going to act.  Thus hypocrites were those who changed their attitudes and actions according to their own interests.   Hypocrisy, the state of the hypocrite, thus befits an actor but not everyday people.  Both St. Paul and Jesus in today’s readings take aim at hypocrites.

Paul has Jews in mind when he writes, “You, o man, are without excuse.” He has finished his critique of pagan morality and now turns his eye to Jewish behavior.  He finds his own nation pretending to live righteous lives when they act similarly to pagans.  Jesus sees the Pharisees as equally pretentious.  They feign holiness with concern over the fine points of religious observance.  They miss the purpose of religion which is to give God glory by imitating His goodness. 

Followers of Christ avoid hypocrisy.  Paul tells us later in the letter to the Romans that we need the grace of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this aim.  Luke shows us in his two volume masterpiece of Luke-Acts that the grace comes through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.  Still we have to want it, pray for it, and to work with it when it duly arrives.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 2: 1-2.12-17; Luke 11:1-4)

The word hypocrisy comes from a Greek word meaning to play a part or to pretend.  Hypocrites evidently were originally actors.  In modern parlance hypocrites pretend to be virtuous when they actually are not.  They attempt to deceive.  So when Paul accuses Peter of hypocrisy in today’s reading from Galatians, he is leveling a serious charge.

Poor Peter is caught in the bind between following custom and living faith in Christ.  Being a Jew, Peter grew up eating kosher.  But faith in Jesus means that following his ways of self-sacrificial love – not a particular diet or other formal acts -- brings one salvation.  First, Peter showed reliance on Christ by taking food freely with non-Jews.  Then in the presence of Jewish Christians he pretends that he would never do such a thing.  This behavior sends a mixed message which, Paul knows, will confuse non-Jews. In Paul’s purview a similar mixed message has allowed some Galatian men to want circumcision rather than consecrate on following Jesus.

Different from Peter, we likely show hypocrisy by covering up our religiosity.  For example, Catholics who eat meat on Fridays in Lent when out with friends betray their commitment to the Church.  We want to be known as both lovers of God and of the world.  There is some overlap, but we cannot square a circle.  We must not conform to the world but encourage the world to convert to God.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, virgin

(II Thessalonians 1:1-5.11-12; Matthew 23:13-22)

We meet Jesus today in Jerusalem. He has just thrown the money changers out of the Temple and is waiting to encounter the wrath of the religious leaders. In the meantime, he criticizes the Pharisees for their erroneous teaching.

But let us not think that Jesus was historically as irate with the Pharisees as this gospel indicates. The setting reflects the situation of the Church at the time of Matthew’s writing, some fifty years after Jesus died. By then Judaism was reforming itself after the Romans demolished the Temple. Its religious leaders, predominantly Pharisees, had to make distinctions Jews between fully-committed to the Law and synagogue attendees who put their faith in Jesus. They would persecute the latter in a way similar to the Inquisition when the Church punished false Catholics. Matthew shows how Jesus might have defended his followers if he were present in the late first century. We should listen to Jesus’ diatribe against the Pharisees as a critique of religious hypocrisy in general.

Jesus’ first charge is that Pharisees deprive people of access to the Kingdom. In other words he implies that the Jewish leaders actually prevent people from knowing God! Priests who have abused children sexually and thereby have created grave doubts not only in their victims but also in society fall under this weighty condemnation. Then Jesus criticizes the Pharisees’ proselytism which makes fanatics of religious converts. We might find a contemporary example here in a convert from Islam or Buddhism who denies that the possibility of the Holy Spirit working within the hearts of their former religious associates. We know that the Holy Spirit definitely works through the Church and its sacraments, but we cannot deny the possibility of His accomplishing salvation through other means. Finally, Jesus condemns the way Pharisees manipulate the law by drawing meaningless distinctions between gold and Temple or between gift and altar. Teachers who say that the unmarried may have sex as long as it is done “responsibly” or that one can “make up” for missing mass on Sunday by attending mass on a weekday make the same kinds of wrongful distinction as the Pharisees here.

Homilette for Friday, October 19, 2007

Friday, XXVIII Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions, martyrs

(Luke 12:1-7)

At a Catholic boys’ high school a religion teacher used to sit outside the chapel with his grade book. When his students entered for Mass, the teacher apparently checked their names. It wasn’t long before Mass attendance spiked. A few of the cockier students did not stay very long but exited the chapel as soon as they were assured that their teacher had gone. We might say that these students were hypocritical like the Pharisees in the gospel today – that is, people who feign religion. We should note, however, that hypocrisy can run the other way as well. Hypocrites are also people who feign non-religion. This second type of hypocrisy is what Jesus warns his listeners against in the rest of the reading.

In all four gospels there is a sterling example of feigning non-religion. When Jesus is taken into custody, Peter denies that he is his disciple. Most of us will never be in such a situation where we feel our lives threatened if we profess faith in Christ. But we may be tempted to feign non-religion when declaring what we believe will make us appear different from the other folks present. Far from being scarce, such situations occur with frequency in this age of coarseness in entertainment. We should show our faith in God by walking out of erotic movies and turning off profane television. We are not “acting like babies” when we express how such grossness offends our faith-formed sensibilities. On the contrary, we are behaving like mature women and men who act on their convictions.

Homilette for Thursday, September 20, 2007

Thursday, XXIV Week of Ordinary Time

(Luke 7)

We may think of Jesus as unfriendly toward all Pharisees, but this is not the case. True, he does chastise some in the gospels, but he also eats with others. He really has a lot in common with Pharisees. Like them Jesus is a layman, learned in the Law, who teaches in synagogues and exerts every effort to live righteously. Nothing should seem peculiar, therefore, in Jesus’ entering a Pharisee’s home in the gospel today.

Simon, the Pharisee, becomes scandalized when Jesus allows a notoriously sinful woman to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Although he is too proper to say it out loud, Simon sees Jesus’ indulgence as evidence that he is not a true prophet. A prophet, he thinks, would see into a person’s heart to know if she or he is worthy. But Simon is dead wrong. Jesus shows himself to be a prophet on two counts. First, he knows the woman to be repentant and thus receptive of God’s grace. Second, he reads the hypocrisy of Simon’s heart that criticizes too much and loves too little.

Jesus demonstrates God’s mercy as he forgives the woman of her sins and enlightens Simon of his. He is not too proper to call Simon to task for hypocrisy, but he does not indignantly walk away from him. We pray with complete confidence that he will treat us as graciously. As church-goers, we are susceptible to the sin of hypocrisy. When we criticize others unjustly, may Christ remind us of the sin that we commit and may he then offer us opportunities to show our love for him.