Monday August 25, 2025

Matthew 23:13-22

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.

Whenever I read these passages where Our Lord Jesus is giving it to the religious professionals, I find myself cheering him on. Yes they need to hear this. Then a little, small voice says to me from within. “You know, you ARE a religious professional.” Self reflection and correction is part of the discipline of Christianity. It is a very dangerous thing to read the scriptures so we can become experts at finding the sins of others.

So today I am called to find in my own way and maybe in your own way how we are a contradiction. We profess one thing and live out the other.

Our Lord is inviting us today to stay out of his way. The Pharisees and Scribes were protecting the kingdom from the sinners and tax collectors. It was their job to do so. But maybe it’s not their job to protect God. God can do it all after all it is in God’s nature to be All Powerful.

“Lord, show me when I am not being helpful and send your angels in my life to teach me how to get out of your Way. Amen.”