Sunday Sermon: A humble and sincere service is the mark of a genuine Christian

The liturgy of the thirty-first Sunday is based on the following readings: Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8, 10; Psalm 130; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13; Matthew 23:1-12. The main theme of our readings points out the unauthentic religious attitudes and how annoying they are to God. Prophet Malachi warns the Israelite priests after their return from exile, against their injustice and unfairness when judging others. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks openly about the unauthentic religious example of the Pharisees, who were popularly regarded as models of religious holiness. He is determined to let everyone know that they lack personal coherence, because they preach to others what they themselves do not do. In addition to that, he publicly condemns their vanity! If they claimed to be religious; they should not go after public praise and honour.They should know that what they wanted; the genuine worship is due only to God. And then Jesus reminds the crowd, as well as the Christians of all the time, that it is the Father in Heaven who is to receive all honour. Here Jesus’ lesson is very clear; he is telling us all that the mark of the genuine Christian is a humble and a sincere service to others. In a style of his own, St Paul stresses the above point by giving himself as a genuine example to follow. He tells the Christians at Thessalonica that it was in an attitude of humble service, that he and his companions taught the Gospel to them, ‘as a mother cares for her children’ (Thes. 2:2). In a very free though humble way, Paul deliberately reminds them how he avoided being a burden on them as he worked among them, night and day in the service of the Gospel. This is a disposition that Jesus marks in contrast with the overbearing attitude of the Pharisees. St. Paul does not stop at being sincere and humble, but he as well appreciate that all he does is through the power given him by God. That is why he thanks God because the Christians who followed his teachings did not recognize in them a mere human message, but the word of God Himself.The Psalmist in Psalm 131 tells us what should be the basis of our religious devotion. It is the trust in God as a child trusts his or her parents. We note this as the Psalmist, without any trace of arrogance or ambition, entrusts his life and concerns to the Lord ‘like a weaned child on its mother’s lap’ (Ps 131:2). The doctrinal message in our readings is the sincere religious devotion. Although Jesus seems to point his finger at the Pharisees who were then taken as religious teachers and apparent models of holiness, it is clear from the text that Jesus wants to teach everyone what is an authentic religious devotion. According to his teaching, Christian spirituality lays particular emphasis on the importance of the proper intentions of our actions. And our human experience shows how prone we are to distort our actions by conceit and self-centeredness, and in subtle ways making ourselves the centre and purpose of what we do. And this is the point that Jesus is making here; that we should flee ourselves from this corrupted mentality. Jesus is known to have insisted on the absolute discretion of our good deeds. In addition to this he advocates for a life in coherence with what we profess, as the sign of genuine belief. And as Christians he wants us to be inspired by the genuine love for others, the kind of love that seeks to help, to ease burdens of others in a very sincere way. Psalm 131 tells us that a Christian can achieve all this by trusting himself or herself to God in so many things that go beyond his or her limited control. And the Gospel reminds us to concern ourselves more with right living and the teaching of the Gospel, and to entrust to God all of what is of lesser concern and what is beyond us. In brief this liturgy brings out the idea that reliance on God can be a practical and operative trust in our daily lives here and now. From a pastoral point of view, we are all warned against something pharisaic in us. Christian charity requires of us to root out of our hearts and minds these distorted perceptions and to convert our hearts and minds to a true and compassionate love of God and of others. Fundamentally this requires of us the capacity to experience each person as a person, and to seek to affirm each person as he or she is. This sounds simple but, in practice, it is something we seldom seem to do. Many times we do not even ‘see’ people, but rather what we want to see in them. So strong is the bind of Christian brotherhood that we are asked to make ourselves jointly responsible for our brothers and sisters. Ends