26th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; St. Matthew 21:28-32)

Throughout the history of Israel there were two great religious institutions: prophecy and priesthood. Originally, they consisted of God-given or God-called individuals; but, over many centuries, they developed into two great authorities each demanding the obedience of true Israelites: the Law of Moses, and the sacrificial worship of God in the glorious Temple of Jerusalem.

In the times of Jesus, the Law of Moses – its interpretation and practice – was the realm of the Pharisees and their Scribes; and they considered their traditions,  assembled over hundreds of years, to be inviolable.  They were the ‘accepted’ teachers of public piety and propriety for the ordinary people; accepted, that is, above all on the basis of their strict observance of material aspects of the Law’s requirements, which the ordinary, poor, people had neither time, money, nor intelligence to understand or observe.  Having seated themselves on the throne of Moses, as Jesus said, the Pharisees were not looking to God for a Messiah to come – despite the witness of many prophets – who, they feared would ‘usurp’ their proud position of supreme exponents of God’s greatest gift to Israel, the Law of Moses, by His own authentic fulfilment of God’s Law for the whole of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles.

The Temple authorities, on the other hand, were the regulators of sacrifice in Israel. Sacrifices had to be offered to the One and only God of Israel in the one and only acceptable place for traditional sacrificial offerings by Israelites whether  living at home or scattered abroad in the ‘Diaspora’.  The Temple authorities therefore – given their own often-indulged natural tendencies – were very rich and much inclined to visible manifestation of their own self importance.  Such wealth and pomposity made them -- the Sanhedrin -- ideal representatives of Israel as regards dealings with the occupying power of Rome, men of like mind and heart: always hungry and eager for greater glory and more money. 

Dear friends in Christ, Jesus was sent to offer peace and bring about unity for all who would believe in Him; peace, that is, for the new People of God, and unity in the new Church of God, to be set up by Jesus and His Apostles, a Church embracing both believing Israelites and believing Gentiles on an equal basis; and our Mass this day embraces both the prophetic and priestly traditions of ancient Israel, for the one sacrifice of love that we offer in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, is also the source of His Gift of the Spirit of God, the ultimate source of holiness for all disciples of Jesus.

In our Gospel reading we heard Jesus deflating the pompous Temple authorities in Jerusalem:

When John came to you in the way of righteousness you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did.  Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your mind and believe him.

John the Baptist had great authority with the people of Juda, throngs of them sought baptism from him in the river Jordan; and even Jesus Himself, having heard of what John was doing in the name of Israel’s God, left His home at Nazareth to witness what John was doing. The chief priests and the elders of the people, however, did not accord John any honour, despite his general renown as a remarkably brave witness to God before kings and potentates, and despite the very special reverence in which he was held by those who were truly ‘seeking the face of the God of Israel’.

It was now the same with Jesus.  Jesus had just cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem by driving out of its perimeters all those conducting business and deriving profit in the precincts of what was meant to be a sanctuary of prayer where God’s own Name dwelt in splendour.  Jesus publicly taught the people, healing many of them, and had been acclaimed by enthusiastic children with the words, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’.

When, on the following day, Jesus returned to the Temple, the chief priests and the elders confronted Him saying:

            By what authority are you doing these things?

The only authority officially recognized by those Temple authorities other than their own politico/religious authority was the forceful authority of the occupying Roman power; and they were not looking for anyone purporting to be sent by, come in the name of, God, as Saviour for Israel.  They alone could save Israel by their political skills when dealing with the Roman power.

However unwillingly, there was one other authority the Temple authorities had to recognize, and that was the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees whose traditions for the interpretation of the Law of Moses were used to denigrate and deny, the possibility of there being any other spiritual guidance for the people.  The Scribes and Pharisees also – just like the Temple authorities --- were  not looking for anyone purporting to be sent by, come in the name of, God, as Saviour for Israel, the Law of Moses was supreme for the Godly governance and guidance of Israel, it was exclusive to Israel, and they were the traditional interpreters of that Law.

Jesus was not wanted by the holy ones, ‘the do-gooders’ and woke-ones’ of those days; nor was He wanted by the Temple authorities, those in power.

He is not wanted today either.

Today’s politicians are intent on seeking popularity and influence by ‘universal credit’ policies … ‘do what you like doing, be what you want to be’… but don’t forget to thank us!!  All those do-gooders do, indeed, some measure of worldly good , but they do it out of fear of death, not out of love of God.

Christian teaching and Christian saints have always said that we should love God above else… because God was and is  acknowledged, by those who have closely experienced Him, to be good and forgiving, and His truth has always been always seen to be supremely beautiful.

Advice by this world’s do-gooders always proclaims that one must avoid death above all else, death is the ugliest, worst experience of life … it is not a gateway to heaven  they assert, but they have no corroboration.   Christianity, on the contrary has the historic testimony of the life and death of Jesus, and the experience -- in Mother Church -- of His Resurrection and of the Gift of His Holy Spirit, ever with her and in her believing children for over 2000 years.

Dear People of God, Jesus is not wanted by our Western world which today delights in its sinfulness, but JESUS IS WANTED by all faithful Catholics world-wide.  Today’s Holy Mass is our supreme witness to Jesus: for we love Him, and we need Him and His most Holy Spirit to make us ever-more one with Him, for the glory of the most wonderful Father-of-us-all Who gave His only-and-most-beloved Son to save each one of us, by His death-on-earth for us.