“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?” (Mt. 23: 27-33)
My wife, Mary, and I just returned from a short Fourth of July break in a cooler clime, and I must admit that during that time I was rather remiss about reading the Daily Office readings and in writing a brief reflection on them. It was as if I said to myself, "I deserve some time off from Scripture."
Then I read today’s reading from Matthew. What a wake up call after a short summer slumber! Jesus reminds me that, using a common phrase, “if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.” The problem with the scribes and Pharisees, according to Jesus, is that they were into the talk and the look of being God’s people, but their attitudes were not. They did not love God, neighbor and self as God would have them do; rather, they were self-righteous and quick to condemn others.
As Christians, we cannot take a summer break from walking the walk. Living life in, with and through Jesus means that we do it every day, in every thing that we say and do, and in all of our interactions with others.
My wife, Mary, and I just returned from a short Fourth of July break in a cooler clime, and I must admit that during that time I was rather remiss about reading the Daily Office readings and in writing a brief reflection on them. It was as if I said to myself, "I deserve some time off from Scripture."
Then I read today’s reading from Matthew. What a wake up call after a short summer slumber! Jesus reminds me that, using a common phrase, “if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.” The problem with the scribes and Pharisees, according to Jesus, is that they were into the talk and the look of being God’s people, but their attitudes were not. They did not love God, neighbor and self as God would have them do; rather, they were self-righteous and quick to condemn others.
As Christians, we cannot take a summer break from walking the walk. Living life in, with and through Jesus means that we do it every day, in every thing that we say and do, and in all of our interactions with others.
The break is over, and I am back thankful for Jesus' reminder in Matthew's Gospel.
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