26th Sunday Year A - Homily 4

Homily 4 - 2020

Today’s Gospel passage is the second of three interactions, grouped together by Matthew, between Jesus and the Jerusalem priests in the sacred precincts of the Temple, their home-ground. They directly challenged him about his authority, which they saw as a threat to theirs.

Jesus’ short story was directed pointedly at them, “Which son did the will of his Father?” The answer was obvious — though they fell for the bait.

What might we learn from the incident? Personally, I find it very easy to criticise the Jewish priests. For one thing, we share similar turf. If criticise them is all do, I learn nothing — and simply confirm my sense of my personal superiority. Perhaps, your reaction on hearing Jesus’ story may not be all that different from mine.

Way back in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned against the danger of getting worked up about the speck in another’s eye, while not noticing the much more dangerous, and perhaps even obvious, log in our own. His point was basically that, whenever we feel emotionally involved in any criticising, it is a pretty sure indication that we have a similar or worse fault, and are just as blind as the individuals or group that we criticise. So second thoughts may prove helpful for all of us.

What is it precisely that annoys me [and perhaps you, too?] about the Jewish priests? They would not accept Jesus’ obvious inner truth and his sense of authority that flowed from it. Perhaps, they were not really open to God, not really searching for him, not loving him. They knew the answers; they had done it all before; their whole lives were ostensibly God-centred. But it was all formality; all for show; it entitled them to feel superior. Their energy centred on themselves, not on God; they used God to confirm their own status.

Might I be blithely guilty of the same fault? Might clericalism be biting away at my own heart, much as it was at theirs? Might even you be complicit in the clericalism scandalising so many people both inside the Church itself as well as outside? The more difficult it is to see, the more likely it is to be operating. The power of our culture and sub-cultures to blind us to ourselves is truly formidable.

Whenever we feel indignation, it can be an invitation to pause and critically examine ourselves before we open our mouths to criticise others.