Word to the Wise
Monday, August 25, 2014 - Monday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Thess 1:1-5, 11-12 and Matt 23:13-22,497]"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter."
The "woe" pronounced above is the first of serven in this part of chapter 23 of the Gospel of Matthew. We will readthree today and two more each of the next two days! Although Jesus had said many of the same things earlier in his ministry, the setting for these seven "woes" is now Jerusalem! In chapter 21, Jesus had entered the city and had "cleansed" the temple. That fained him increased and intense hostility from the religious authorities. Now he hits them head-on! Instead of what they considered righteous living, he will offer the vision in chapter 25 of the "final judgment."
Since this gospel was composed after the destruction of the temple, thse "woes" were influenced by the form of Judaismthat survived the calamity: "rabbinic Judaism." The scribes and Pharisees were claiming to be the true Jews. The synagogue would replace the temple and the study of Torah would replace sacrificial worship. But their approach, at least the one Jesus attacked, was self-serving and destructive. The seven "woes" are quite a list!
That list has a second purpose. it warns the new Christian community [in Matthew's case composed mostly of Jewish converts] how not to behave. Two thousand years later, those warnings still have a punch to them. In reading the first of them this morning, I cannot help but wonder how our Church has behaved on ocasion, using its apostolic authority to lock up the Kingdom of Heave. This can happen on the local level as well as on the highest level! I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of Jesus' "woes!" AMEN
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