TUESDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2024
TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
ST PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS
1 King 8:22-23,27-30
Mark 7:1-13
AUTHENTIC FAITH EXPRESSION AND LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS IS DEVOID OF HYPOCRISY
A life of hypocrisy tends towards self expression that locks out God, that seeks fame, self, yet living and holding as if one appreciates or values God’s.
Jesus condemns this same attitude found among the Pharisees in the gospel passage of today. The Pharisees upholds more their traditions than that of God’s. They pay more attention and respect to things, traditions and customs that massage their ego and display their importance. And they do this at the detriment of the laws of God. In fact, they put God’s precepts on hold when carrying out their man made traditions. Yet they appear to be doing the will of God and expecting all to join them in the same act.
Jesus sees the hypocrisy of these Pharisees and accuses them as such. In his admonition of their evil heart Jesus tells them, “‘This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”
The Pharisees’ religious inclination has only external manifestions, empty rituals and symbols but with little or no interior disposition. Their religious sense is more or less useless and inconsequential because it leads them no where. They are self serving and selfish. They seek fame, conspire to acclaim themselves and know themselves alone. God and God’s law is undermined. They even replace God’s ways, precepts and tradition with their invented laws, and obnoxious traditions.
Jesus gives instances of their actions. They tend to portray themselves as doing the will of God when in fact they jettison God’s ordinances in preference for their customs, that is, the custom of men. They, rather follow that which will give them more gains than doing that which has been assigned them that will eventually take away from them. They skillfully avoid being obligated to the things of God and rather pursues their comfort and gains.
Hypocrites are self serving and great pretenders. They appear pious, virtuous, and innocent but they are more as ravenous wolves and dangerous people who seek their gains.
Pure religion in the mind of Jesus devoid of hypocrisy is to do the will of God no matter the cost. Worship of God ranks supreme. Things of God stands out as obligatory. No one offers excuses and jettisons the things of God on the altar of serving self. Meaning that, laws of God must be kept, adhere to and greater efforts must be made to attend to these laws and their keeping.
Even if not attained but the effort is seen by God with their attendant right and pure intention can also be observed by others. The idea of giving excuses, or exonerating oneself or rationalizing ones failure or ineptitude is not to be our attitude.
Solomon was humble, direct, truthful in his worship of God. He recognizes that even though he had built God a house yet God cannot be contained in the house built since as God even heaven cannot contain him. He makes the request that prayers said in this house may be hearkened to and answered. Solomon recognized the immensity of God’s being, the expanse of God’s attributes and the supernatural nature and overriding powers of God over the temple he built in relation to his intention. He therefore implored the goodness and kindness of God to stay with humans and hear us out as his people whenever we come into the temple to pray.
We must avoid being hypocrite towards God since God knows our heart and can read the secret intentions of our minds. We must be straightforward, sincere and humble before God in keeping to his laws and decrees and attending to his will.
Again before our fellow men, being hypocrites and pretending to be what we are not is not necessary. Without over emphasizing our importance, we must also try to attain the virtues we profess, making concerted efforts, admitting our shortcoming and striving earnestly to overcome and acquire through grace those virtues, ideals and follow the will of our God.
Heavenly Father, we are sometimes moved to impress, by becoming pretentious, living like hypocrites by assuming what we have not attained. Forgive us and grant us O Lord, pure hearts, steadfast spirit, dedicated and willing minds. May we always desire, make efforts and be able to attain the virtues we profess, the perfection we aspire and the Christlike life we profess. Grant us gradual but persistently consistent growth in virtue, in life and in goodness through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
