Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - 2nd Week of Lent - Tues
[Isa 1:10, 16-20 and Matt 23:1-12]The scribes and Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.
The Gospel of Matthew was originally addressed to an audience of Jewish people who had accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah, but who were also anxious to preserve their Jewish heritage as expressed in the Law of Moses. They were understandably concerned about the stories of tension between Jesus and the religious authorities who were "experts" in the Law of Moses. Although scripture scholars have shown that Jesus' interpretation of the Mosaic Law was within tolerable range of major currents of interpretation in his time, the gospels, like story-telling of all kinds, tend to draw the lines of division dramatically. We do know of Pharisees, etc. who accepted Jesus. Today's gospel passage shows that Jesus did not begrudge the scribes and Pharisees the role of interpretors of the law, but severely criticizes the job they were doing with that role! There are some challenging lessons in this passage.
We Catholics have a tremendously rich and diverse religious heritage that has developed from more than 2,000 years of trying to live out our faith. The word "developed" is important here. Faith (and our efforts to live in accord with it) is a living thing - perhaps more a verb than a noun. An important part of our heritage is the interpretative role that has been handed down from the apostles and manifested in the pope and bishops. This is not an easy role, and like the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus' time, some of those who have played this role have not played it well. But I think we have to give the benefit of the doubt to the vast majority as having done the best they can. To some extent they are prisoners of the traditions that are not part of the faith but rather part of the "pomp and circumstance" and administrative machinery which have a way of taking on a life of their own and claiming an authority that is not a matter of faith but rather discipline, convenience and the danger of power that corrupts.
Lent is a time of self-examination and conversion. Any of us who sit "on the chair of Jesus" would do well to examine how we fulfill that role. Are we creating burdens rather than easing them? Do we practice what we preach? Are we concerned more with "image" than with faith? How do we use the power that comes with the role of leadership and teaching? Are our interpretations of the scriptures in line with those of Jesus, and in continuity with 2000 years of lived faith experience? If nothing else, one should remember the scorn that Jesus shows for some of the scribes and Pharisees of his time. I, for one, would hate to be the recipient of that scorn! AMEN
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