Daily Gospel Reflection

The Mistake of the Pharisees

Welcome back to Radical & Relevant, where each day we're exploring the genius of the gospel, looking for a word or a phrase, or an idea to anchor our life for that day in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 21:23-27. When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" And Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you a question. And if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John. Where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they argued with one another. "If we say from heaven, he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say for men, we're afraid of the multitude for all hold that John was a prophet.'" So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." Which jumps out at you today. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the teachers of the law at the time were once again trying to catch Jesus out, right? Once again, trying to show him to be something other than who and what he was. But we see this dynamic between human beings all the time, right? We see people say, "Well, where did you go to college?" And even beyond that, "Well, he got his degree here. It isn't as good as here. It would have been better if he got his degree there because they teach it in this way, and he got his degree at this other place. So it's not really the same." And so we use these things to quickly categorize people and to put them in a box. If you think of the social interactions and the things that people ask people all the time, especially during first meetings. Where are you from? Where do you go to school? What do your parents do? What do you do? Where do you live? What part of town do you live in? You can see every single one of these questions is leading towards a narrowing, right? And the person is, in some ways, just trying to know the person, and that's good, that's great. The problem becomes if we then try to use all this data to say, "Okay. Yeah, I know this person, put them in that box." And where's the mistake? I know this person. That's the mistake. I know this person. And the mistake the Pharisees are making, they think they know Jesus. That's the mistake. And it's a mistake for me to go home tonight to my wife of 16 years and my children and think that I know them. That's the mistake. Because once we think we know them, we put them in a box, curiosity goes away, and we're in a place of judgment rather than appreciation and curiosity. If you bring appreciation and curiosity to any relationship, it takes on a whole new tone. It takes on a whole new flavor. So let's get out there and bring some appreciation and curiosity to our relationships today. Have a great day and remember, do not just be yourself. Be the very best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.