Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
August 25, 2020
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 and to impress–not only the ordinary people but even God himself.
Jesus warns them that they are like dirty dishes and cups. All their care is for the outside of the plate and cup, which is not the side that contains food and drink. No one eats from dirty plates and cups. It even spoils the food and drink to be sitting in the filth.
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 God judges–the heart and intentions rather than externals and appearance.
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 seemingly have nothing are the richest in the eyes of God.
