Sunday, June 12, 2005
MATTHEW 23:1-12
Jesus treated ordinary sinners and the Pharisees quite differently. His arms and his heart were always wide open to receive sinners whose sins were sins of weakness. The experience of the woman caught committing adultery, as it is narrated in St. John's gospel, provides a very beautiful example of Jesus' love and compassion for the weak, even for weak sinners. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to condemn the adulteress, but instead he shamed the Pharisees and offered forgiveness and hope to the woman.
In today's gospel Jesus roundly condemns the Pharisees. Why? Because they wanted everything for themselves, honor and respect, impressive clothing, fine titles. But they placed terribly heavy burdens on the shoulders of the ordinary people and lifted not even a finger to help them bear the weight.
With regard to ourselves today, it's not our sins of weakness that will draw Jesus' condemnation down on us. Actions done with excess … excessive consumption of alcohol, involvement with drugs, sins of impurity - even though these can have a devastating effect on both the sinner and on others — they are sins of weakness. These are some of the sins which good men and women commit although they strive with great effort to live good Christian lives.
The really great sin in our country and perhaps the rest of the world today, a sin the Old Testament characterizes as crying out to heaven for vengeance, is the oppressive burden we place on the shoulders of the great majority of our people. This is the sin that will call down Christ's condemnation on us. We like to think, I suppose, that we personally have done nothing to put these burdens on the poor. Who then imposed them? The society, of course, of which we have been members all our lives, and in whose guilt, therefore, we have a share.
Even if we were not guilty of putting burdens on others, in his parable on the last judgment, Christ does not ask those to be judged whether they have imposed burdens on "the least of his brothers." He asks, rather whether they have done anything to make burdens they imposed - lighter.
In today's gospel Jesus roundly condemns the Pharisees. Why? Because they wanted everything for themselves, honor and respect, impressive clothing, fine titles. But they placed terribly heavy burdens on the shoulders of the ordinary people and lifted not even a finger to help them bear the weight.
With regard to ourselves today, it's not our sins of weakness that will draw Jesus' condemnation down on us. Actions done with excess … excessive consumption of alcohol, involvement with drugs, sins of impurity - even though these can have a devastating effect on both the sinner and on others — they are sins of weakness. These are some of the sins which good men and women commit although they strive with great effort to live good Christian lives.
The really great sin in our country and perhaps the rest of the world today, a sin the Old Testament characterizes as crying out to heaven for vengeance, is the oppressive burden we place on the shoulders of the great majority of our people. This is the sin that will call down Christ's condemnation on us. We like to think, I suppose, that we personally have done nothing to put these burdens on the poor. Who then imposed them? The society, of course, of which we have been members all our lives, and in whose guilt, therefore, we have a share.
Even if we were not guilty of putting burdens on others, in his parable on the last judgment, Christ does not ask those to be judged whether they have imposed burdens on "the least of his brothers." He asks, rather whether they have done anything to make burdens they imposed - lighter.
# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 5:10 PM 
