Homily for 5 November 2023

 

My dear brothers and sisters today we celebrate the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time year A. And for all of you who are not priests or religious you can sit back and relax a bit today as the readings are addressed more to the religious leaders and the priests. The first reading is taken from the post-exilic prophet Malachi. Malachi preaches after the second Temple was built in 515 BC by those who returned from exile. When they first returned to Judea from their captivity in Babylon, the Jews rigorously guarded against pagan idol worship in their land. But over time, they gradually gave in to this sin. In the process, they also began to lose sight of God’s purposes for them. It was during this period that Malachi was sent to instruct and guide God’s people toward a purer life. God, through Malachi, strongly rebuked the priests of his day for not showing respect and honour to Him in their sacrifices even though they called God Father and Master. The altar was the place of sacrifice, and it belonged to God. Yet the priests of Malachi’s day disgraced God and His altar by offering defiled food to Him. God used Levi as an example for the priests and pointed out the duties of a priest who is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. First, a priest should have reverence. Second, a priest should know God’s word and give true instructions about God. The last is integrity and uprightness and turning away from iniquity. And just at the end of the reading, we have the rebuke against the people in general as they indulged in mixed marriages and divorce. God is the Father and God is the witness of the marital covenant, therefore marriage should be among the covenantal community itself.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, we have Paul reminding the Thessalonian Christians that not only had he and his colleagues not profited financially from their ministerial work, they had instead experienced a good deal of suffering as a result of their faithful proclamation of the Good News. He reminds the Thessalonians how he and his colleagues had been with them like a nursing mother, gentle and affectionate because they had become very dear to them. Paul was a tent maker and he and his colleagues had supported themselves financially, while also preaching the Gospel. They did this so that they might not impose a financial burden on the Thessalonian converts and also to protect their reputation. Paul gives thanks to the Thessalonian Christians for not doubting and receiving his preaching as the word of God. The word of God was continuing to work in the lives of these Thessalonian Christians—guiding them, strengthening them, blessing them and helping them to grow in faith.

This gospel passage introduces a chapter in Matthew filled with Jesus’ warnings to the scribes and Pharisees who were the religious leaders at the time of Jesus. The first critique concerned their lack of obedience to the Torah as they teach it to the people. The Pharisees emphasised the following of the Sabbath and purity codes which were impossible to follow for the poor people. So while the Pharisees were known for their devotion to the Law, their interpretation of the Torah along with the oral tradition helped them to overlook the spirit of the Law. In contrast, Jesus’ interpretation of the Torah was focused on love, mercy, and justice.

The second critique was the Pharisees’ desire for prestige and honour. They wore eye-catching prayer shawls with long fringes that would draw attention to themselves, and they always wanted to be in the most visible places so that people would see them, treat them with respect, and reward them with titles of honour. We too at times get caught up in this same temptation of wanting to be popular and recognized by people. We desire our names to be put up everywhere, we want our names to be read out everywhere and we want everyone to know that it was I who did this for the school or that for the church. Jesus on the other hand preached and lived a life of humility never seeking popularity or fame.

I’d also like to address another topic which often comes up regarding the gospel text. Jesus said, “Call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father – the one in heaven”. And yet Catholics call their priests as fathers. No wonder this text is quite often quoted to accuse Catholics of going against the teachings of Jesus. If you have viewed the first few episodes of The Bible Explained series you would know that the answer to this lies in the context of the text.

Certainly, God is our supreme protector, provider, and instructor and therefore, it is wrong to view any individual other than God as having these roles. However, the context of Matthew 23 shows that Jesus didn’t intend for his words to be understood literally. He was using hyperbole to show the scribes and Pharisees how sinful and proud they were for not looking to God as the source of all authority, fatherhood and teaching, and instead setting themselves up as the ultimate authorities, father figures, and teachers. At the same time, in the Bible, the concept of fatherhood is not restricted to just our earthly fathers and God. It is used to refer to people as a sign of respect to those with whom we have a special relationship. This type of fatherhood applies to those who are wise counsellors or benefactors and also to those with whom we have a fatherly spiritual relationship. Since the Bible frequently speaks of this spiritual fatherhood, Catholics acknowledge it and follow the custom of the apostles by calling priests “father.”

So while the main subject of the readings today are the priests and religious they do have a message for all of us. The readings challenge us to a change in our attitudes. We know from Church history that whenever the Church lost its focus on Christ and focused instead on money, status and power the Church descended into spiritual corruption. The same applies to all of us individually as well. Let us at the same time also continue to pray for all priests and religious that they may live out faithfully the duties of the priest and thus lead people closer to God. Take care and God bless.