LIVING AND WORKING JUST ‘TO BE SEEN’

HOMILY FOR THE 31^ST SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

A pretentious lifestyle does great harm to the person in particular and to the society at large. When we pretend, we retard. A pretentious life says what we are really not. In living such a life, we tend to move away from how God has created and fashioned each one of us, together with the God-given talents. Those talents that needed to manifest with our real nature and selves are strangled and sacrificed on the infamous altar of pretence. Pretence gives birth to some other vices such as sycophancy and ostentation. Sycophancy leads one into using obsequious compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage. Those led into this are the super flatterers. Ostentation leads one to a vain show or an ambitious display intended to excite admiration or applause. Those led into this are flamboyant about their personality. Ostentation is theatrical not real, just as flattery is obsequious, not truthfully assertive.

In the Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12) of today, Jesus warns us against the religion of ostentation. Ostentation can only end up destroying the very cradle on which deep spirituality is built. And that cradle is in action and the relationship we are expected to have with our fellows. It was vivid that the lifestyle of the Pharisees was an ostentatious one. They converted religion into a ‘showbiz.’ And Jesus had to lay bare those actions and customs in which they lived such an ostentatious life. There are three points to note here:

1) They appear, dress and cloth themselves to draw attention to themselves. They widen their phylacteries. These were little leather type boxes which contained a piece of parchment with four passages of Scripture written on it. The passages were from Exod. 13:1-10, 13:11-16, Deut. 6:4-9 and Deut. 11:13-21. The reason behind the use of the phylacteries is most probably that we are to have the word of God in our minds just as vivid as we have them in our eyes. Now, the problem with these Pharisees is that they enlarged their own little leather boxes to draw attention to themselves and to give the impression that they are more religious than the others. They lengthen their tassels. God had instructed the people in Deut. 22:12 to make fringes on the borders of their garments, so that it constantly reminds them of the commandments of God. However, these Pharisees made their tassels oversize so that they become an ostentatious display of piety, worn not to remind a man of the commandments but to draw attention to himself.

How often do we wear clothes that expose the body and attract attention to certain parts of the body? Jesus warns us against any clothing worn to attract attention. The Pharisees have done theirs to attract attention, but today we also do it to appear appealing. Modesty and decency are gradually becoming very subjective to every person. Every one now claims to have his/her own definition of what is actually descent. We are reminded that decency is a norm, especially when it concerns religious gathering (1 Tim. 2:9-10).

2) They loved positions of honour, special seats, and places of recognition. In Palestine, the back seats were occupied by the children and the most unimportant people; the further forward the set, the greater the honour. The most honoured seats of all were the seats of the elders which faced the entire congregation. If a man seats there, he must be noticed by all, and must compose himself with a show of piety which the congregation could not fail to notice. The problem here is not just in occupying positions of honour, but in the inordinate love of them. Someone has to hold upper positions and fill the major places of responsibility. It is the feeling of pride that goes with such positions that must be guided against. For people who are inclined to this type of life, they are easily flattered. This leads them to a feeling of excess worth, which leads them to a life of always expecting praise from people, even when they have done nothing. In this case, the words of the Psalmist become relevant: in his riches, man lacks wisdom, he is like the beast that are destroyed (Ps. 49:12).

3) They loved the titles that honoured and exalted them. The Pharisees liked to be addressed as Rabbis and be treated with the highest form of respect. They claimed greater respect than that given to parents; for they claimed that a man’s parents give him ordinary physical life, but a man’s teacher gives him eternal life. They exaggerated their positions as teachers. The problem here is not in titles but in the intent and desire for them. Very often today, some change their clothing and seek upper places, positions and titles to draw attention to themselves and their abilities. In this case, they are honoured, and not the Lord (Matt. 6:1-7, 16-18). In this case, they prefer those positions without the desire for service. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12).

There is nothing wrong in being religious and to practice our righteousness. What is wrong is to draw attention to oneself instead of to the Lord. Christ warns us not to practice our righteousness in front of others so as to be seen by them. If you do, he says, you will have no reward from your father in heaven (Matt. 6:1). We should not overdo our outward being to draw attention to ourselves. We ought to walk humbly among men, walk as one of them, for in such a way, we point Christ to them by our lives. God has no favourites among men. Why should we then seek to appear as the favourites of God? Why should we seek position, honour, and appearance that would point us as being special?

If there should be any one who should walk humbly before men and point them towards God, it is the man who professes to serve God. And that was why God was very bitter with the priests of old in the First Reading (Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10). God spells out the sins of the Levitical priests. They offer polluted sacrifices (Mal. 1:6-14) and they abrogate their roles of teaching and leading (Mal. 2:1-9). The Lord’s response to the polluted offerings is a cessation of all temple sacrifices. This would cause some tension among the priests. There is also a condemnation of the failure of the priests as teachers and leaders because they abandoned personal integrity. The Lord’s response is that the priests will be cursed if they fail to heed to the Lord’s warning. They have not been faithful to their roles as priests. Since they voided the covenant of Levi, the Lord has stripped them of their status. This is a strong message for all Christians today, who by virtue of their baptism are common priests; but even more for the ministerial priests. We must all make effort to keep to our duties as priests. We must preach and at same time practice what we preach.

There are many ways we behave like the Pharisees or repeat the errors of these levitical priests today. When we pray just to be called powerful man of God, when we sing to flaunt our good voice for self praise, when we desire putting on good cloths for going to church just to win people’s admiration, when we desire to preach so as to spur applause, when we admonish others without meaning what we tell them, when we extort people financially under the guise of Christian charity, we become those Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Paul presents himself as a good preacher worthy of emulation in the Second Reading (1 Thess. 2:7b-9, 13). The preacher must not burden the people with his personal issues, and must not extort people financially. If he recognizes as St. Paul that what he preaches is the word of God and what he does is the work of God, then he will learn to take care of it as God wants and not as he desires. May the Lord be our strength as we work to keep to our duties. May he give us the courage to work authentically and not merely to be seen. I wish all of us a week of authenticity. Amen.