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31st Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle A

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Practice what you preach.  This is the warning from our readings this week.  While pointed specifically at the religious leaders of the community, these warnings also serve as a reminder for us – that we too must not become complacent in our duties to the Lord.  

The Word for the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time:
Malachi 1:14b-1:2b, 8-10
Psalm 131:1, 2, 3
1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13
Matthew 23:1-12

We open with a reading from the prophet Malachi, who’s career began a few generations after the return from Babylon.  Malachi sees a priesthood that has lost its way, and through that, caused the people to falter.  The prophet condemns them and reminds them that is God who created us and with whom we have our covenant.  

Our Psalm helps those priests (and all of us) to focus back on what’s important as we sing, “In you, Lord, I have found my peace.”  When we turn to the Lord in humility, we find peace and hope.

Our second reading picks up on that theme of a caring mother found in our Psalm as we continue our study of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.  Here Paul reminds the people of his actions and that of the other disciples who came to them.  They not only delivered the Word of God, but they lived it.  They did their share of the work so that they might not be a burden on the community.  They didn’t expect any special treatment.  Once again Paul is using this as an example of behavior the people are meant to emulate.  

Our Gospel from Matthew continues a not far from where we left off last week.  Lets step back and remember where we’ve been… Jesus has entered Jerusalem and has been confronted by the chief priests, the elders, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees.  Having bested all of them, he now turns to the crowds and his disciples to openly renounces their hypocrisy.  As we have previously discussed, Jesus has nothing left to lose, he knows these are his final days.  But his brazen attacks on these religious leaders is both a condemnation and a warning – that you must practice what you preach least you lose your favor with God.

It’s also helpful to remember that the phylacteries (Ancient Greek for the Hebrew tefillin) Jesus refers to are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers.  These are those little boxes they wear on their foreheads.  The tassels are also part of the regalia of their office, the length of which believed to represent their position within the rank of the Pharisees.

Final Thoughts:
If there’s anything we’ve learned from Jesus and the prophets, it’s that “status” has no privileges in the Kingdom of God.  In fact, any leadership position carries with it added responsibilities – to be an example for others to emulate, to practice what they preach.  Above all, we Christians need to recognize that we all serve one master:  Christ.

As we continue to face a society (and in many ways, a church) divided on ideological grounds, these readings are a good reminder of what can happen when we don’t practice what we preach.  Christ gave us two commandments (of which we were reminded in last week’s Gospel), to love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.  When we forget to follow these commandments, it can lead down a path of division, rivalry, and lack of compassion for others.  Jesus saw that the religious leaders of his day had lost this connection and compassion.  He saw them serving themselves instead of others.  You don’t have to look too far to see how similar selfishness has led to many of the problems and divisions we see in the world today.  May we all strive to be better servants by putting Christ first.

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