Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
August 23, 2022
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Matthew 23:23-26
Matthew’s Gospel continues with Jesus’ criticisms of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy. For them externals became the be-all and end-all of their religious observance. But it was all for show aimed at impressing not only the ordinary people but even God himself.
Jesus warns them that they are like dirty dishes and cups. All of their concern is for the outside of the plate and cup, and not the inside that actually contains the food and drink. No one would eat from a dirty plate or cup.
Much of society emphasizes external appearance whether in clothing, the car one drives or the choice of food they eat. All of that says nothing about who the real person is within himself. And that is ultimately what is judged–the heart and the intention.
Jesus–naked on the cross with nothing of his own–was the perfect gift of reparation to his Father. Sometimes the poor in our midst who have nothing are the richest in the eyes of God.
