Today's Gospel

Listen to the Hypocrites

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of Jesus, the genius of the gospel, the genius of Catholicism, and looking for a way to anchor our day, each and every single day, in the gospel of the day. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 23:1-12. "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. So practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplace and being called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren, and call no man your father on Earth, for you have one father who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master in Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.'"

Which word or phrase or idea jumped out at you today? The one that jumped out at me was right at the beginning: "So practice and observe whatever they tell you." It's really interesting. Jesus saying to the crowds and to the disciples, "Practice and observe whatever the scribes and Pharisees tell you, but don't do what they do." See, he didn't say, "Hey, those scribes and Pharisees, they don't know what they're talking about and you can ignore them." No. He said, "Practice and observe whatever they tell you." Even though they're hypocrites, even though they're not living it themselves, that doesn't take you off the hook. That doesn't allow you to ignore what they're teaching, what they're saying.

And it's a brilliant teaching. It's a difficult teaching, right? Because when you are hearing something from someone who you know is not living it, not even trying to live it, or even arrogantly going around even against it, but they're telling you, "You should do this," it's really hard to hear that person, right? It's really hard to hear that person, and of course, sometimes we are that person. Maybe it's with our kids, maybe it's with our friends. Jesus says to them, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses, so practice and observe whatever they tell you."

What does that mean you-- what does that mean to you today? What does that mean to you in relation to spiritual teachers in your life? What does that mean to you in relation to the church? God bless you, have an amazing day, and remember, don't just be yourself, be the-very-best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.