Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today's Mass Readings

Our sensibilities from reading and hearing the gospel stories are conditioned to think of the Pharisees only as hypocrites and show offs. This conception, however, misses some of the force of Jesus’ critique of these folk. They were not such easy targets. On the whole, they were considered the most pious Jews of their day, admired for there adherence to the law and their dedication to God. Nevertheless, their conflicts with Jesus centered around their overly legalistic adherence to the law. From its earliest moments, what we now call Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. Jesus was clearly Jewish and part of the Jewish theological arguments of His day. Many of these arguments among the chosen people were about how best to uphold their end of the covenant with God. As celebrated in today’s psalm, God continually blesses those who have a proper posture (i.e. holy fear) toward Him (Ps 128:4). The question remains: what does proper holy fear look like?

So what about the Pharisees? They appear to be stalwarts of the covenant since the Jewish people promised, on their end, to uphold the law. And, indeed, if you listen to what they say, they are! Yet, Jesus reveals two of their shortcomings: 1) They do not practice what they preach and 2) They are ostentatious in their religious practices. Notice that Jesus, at least in this passage, extols their teaching: “do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you” (Mt 23:3), but critiques their actions and tone.

Jesus’ speech seems almost right out of the prophetic books. The prophets made their living by pointing out to God’s people the ways in which they were not upholding the covenant, especially when they thought they were. Jesus is both a prophet (one who speaks for God) and more than a prophet. A theme of prophetic messages was: God upholds His end of the covenant and He dwells among His people. In Jesus, God dwells among His people in a more intimate way. Jesus doesn’t just deliver God’s word, He is God’s Word, made flesh. So, to follow Him is to follow God. Therefore, He doesn’t simply point away from himself, but rather instructs His disciples to follow their “one master, the Christ” (Mt 23:10).

Often, the prophets foretold the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which came as a result of the Israelites’ failure to uphold the covenant. In Jesus there is a destruction (crucifixion) of the dwelling place of God – His very body – but there is also restoration (resurrection) of this “temple” which opens us up to the possibility of eternal life! This is the covenant made new in Jesus, sealed in His blood. In this covenant, we can all dwell with God for eternity. This is the possibility brought about by Jesus and it is realized not in ostentatiousness, but in humility (Mt 23:12). We have an eminent example of this humility in our Blessed Mother, who responded to God’s call by saying “Let it be done to me according to your will.”

- Tim Gabrielli