This week: an extended study of Matthew 23.
The right answer, of course, would be “the students” or “society” or “God”. Painful but honest answers could be “my parents” or “the money”.
Jesus gives another answer for the Pharisees: “Everything they do is done for men to see.”
How can we tell how who we are doing what we are doing for?
Imagine packing for a trip. A long trip. An international trip. You walk forever. You catch a boat. You sail forever. You are at the edge of everything. You meet someone. You invite him to be like you, to be part of your group. He agrees. You teach him the opposite of everything you know.
When he takes the entrance exam, he fails completely.
That’s what Jesus says the Pharisees are doing.
2. Don’t make promises you know you will break. This is the apparent content of this lesson. To make a promise with an escape clause is not to make a promise at all. Make it or don’t. Agree to the deadline or don’t. Agree to the deal or not.
But if you do, don’t blame the object for not following through. It is your (and my) fault.
Neglect is what you do to a garden. It’s a lack of attention suitable for small things. When something as massive as justice is neglected, treated as more trivial than a mint leaf, something is wrong.
We all are hypocrites. We all have gaps between what we say we believe and what we live we believe. The text of our words, when compared with the text of our actions, always differs. The question is not, whether. The question is, now what?
300 words a day 