As I have said many times in these Daily Reflections, the Scriptures are not just talking about events that happened long ago, they also are talking about what is happening to us today. This is, in part, because God inspired the authors, but also in part because human nature has not changed all that much over time. The attitudes Jesus confronted in first century Judaism are too often the very same ones we 21st century Christians confront today.
Isaiah begins his scroll by accusing his fellow Hebrews of being like the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:10, 16-20). A bit of an exaggeration, yes, but he felt the comparison was necessary to get their attention. A prophet is one who speaks for God, and in this reading, God, through Isaiah, tells them: “Make justice your aim: redress the wrong; hear the plea of the orphans; defend the widow.” In case we still don’t get it, the Psalm (Psalm 50) addresses the other side of that coin, adding that God isn’t pleased by religious rituals in themselves. Finally, Jesus in today’s gospel (Matthew 23:1-12) attacks both the piety and the legalism of the most upright group in Judaism – the Pharisees. We too easily slough off that encounter, assuming that it refers only to Jewish regulations that do not apply to us. But there are many ways we, too, use religion to lay heavy burdens on one another, and there are many ways to say, “too bad!” to those who struggle under those burdens. We cannot dodge the fact that this statement is about us as well as it is about the Pharisees.
Think for a moment of the burdens carried by single mothers in our parishes, struggling to make ends meet. Or the victims of spousal abuse. What about those who took what seemed the only recourse available to them – divorce? Gay people trying to live holy and upright lives. Do we help lift their burdens? Do we include them in our communal life? Do we feel responsible for them? Or do we stigmatize or look down on them? Pope Francis’ famous words condense today’s gospel into five words: “Who am I to judge?”
We are quite good, actually, at helping the victims of disasters, at least in the short term. As “victims”, they were innocent. Do we feel less compassion for those whose plight may have arisen in part from their own bad choices – who are, in our view, less “deserving”? Think about many of the homeless. Before we judge, we should ask ourselves how God looks on us and our own bad choices. Perhaps we need to ponder for a moment the prodigal father in Luke 15.
In the gospel Jesus is very clear about our responsibilities to one another: “You are all brothers”. This statement, at its time, was shocking, even revolutionary. Kinship was the most important social force in the ancient Middle East. Are we as responsible for the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ as we are for our own blood relatives? As our spiritual kin, their problems automatically become our problems as well. At least that is what Jesus tells us.
Today’s readings stress that following the rules, observing the religious rituals – though a good thing to do – are not enough, not nearly enough. They are certainly not a substitute for lifting the burdens of others; they are not a substitute for supporting them in their woundedness, even when we cannot heal those wounds.
Lent is a God-sent time to look about and see what burdens our expectations and proprieties have imposed on others – burdens we could help to lift – should help to lift. Pope Francis has told us that, when we enter so deeply into the wounds of our brothers and sisters that we feel them ourselves, we are filled with compassion – and ultimately with gratitude as well.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!