Pharisaism

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday; Memorial of St Ignatius of Antioch (17 October 2018)

Galatians 5:18-25

Luke 11:42-46

“Woe to you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Jesus in today's gospel attacks the attitudes of Pharisees. He is attacking a certain mentality which can all too easily be among us Christians and, if we are honest, very many times in ourselves. Here Jesus attacks them for their scrupulous observance of even the tiniest of regulations, not because that is wrong but because they by-pass justice and the love of God those things that really matter. He attacks them for their status-seeking. They expect people to look up to them and give them special honours because of their supposed higher level of religious observance.

But the gospel passage is not merely about 2000 years ago. It is about me. Pharisaism is alive in our society even today but the first person I need to check is me. We are part of the evil that we are fighting against.

The Church itself over the centuries has not been above criticism in this area either. And perhaps it is still true today. Bishops and priests have often laid heavy burdens on the faithful and not given much help in carrying them. Sometimes church leaders have been more anxious to preserve traditional practices than lead people to a deeper love of Christ and each other. Parents too can be guilty when they follow double standards, making one rule for themselves and another for their children. Similar blame can be put on teachers and employers who could be saying, “Do as I say; don’t do as I do.” But most of all the individual has to begin with a self-criticism, an examination of consciousness from herself. Have I sought for privileges rather than truth and justice and love?

We love by letting go. To truly love God in the world, we need to let go of our anger and restlessness however small it may be. Only when we are willing to confess repeatedly that we too have dirty hands, even when we work for the good of others, can we fully understand the hard task of loving and healing others.

We are so careful about our Sunday attendance at Mass and paying our monthly subscriptions, perhaps. But are we careful in loving others, forgiving others, helping others in need? Have we amassed riches by greed and mere profit-making? Have we shown compassion towards the poor? Until people have had some level of inner religious experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus. Indeed they will not be able to understand them. On the contrary they would be only the source of deeper anxiety.

Morality (the set of do's and don'ts) is only a tiny part of our religion, but what we have by and large done is trivialize the law into small issues so that we could obey by willpower, determination and a certain kind of reasonableness, still trying to find salvation through the law. Morality is not the goal of religion, but union with God expressed as forgiveness of enemies, non-violence, humble use of power, sharing our riches, showing compassion, etc. These are the weightier matters of our Christian law. These are the stuff that should come into my confession, not just whether I broke the rule or not (whether I missed Mass on Sunday or not).

Love is all that counts both in time and in eternity. We will be judged by love alone.