(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
We meet the Pharisees again. It is good to remember that the Gospels were written some forty or more year after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. It is also good to remember that the story of Jesus was told in the context of the lives of the evangelist’s contemporaries: Pharisees had become a code word for the opponents of the gospel writer. That is the case here; we meet the Pharisees, but they are not Jewish; they are a rigorist group of Christians who seem to disprove of the freedom of the evangelist’s community.
Jesus lived his life. He died and rose from the dead. His disciples went out and spread the good news. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus became the lens through which their story was told.
Just as the gospels reflect the life and times of the gospel writers, so also does our reading of the gospel reflect on our life and times. This is how the word of God comes alive to every generation.
Just as Jesus called out the hypocrites of his day, and just as the gospel writers called out the opposition of their day; so also, in our day the Scriptures call out the hypocrites and opposition of today.
So, I get to call out the opposition of today’s Church, those people whom I shall call the Green People, those who oppose all that is good and holy. “Whoa!” however, the Lord says to me, “you are the opposition. You must first preach the gospel to yourself before you preach it to others. Otherwise, you are as much at fault as your Green People.”
So, I really do not get to call out other people, but I do have to let the word of God scrutinize me and purify me so that I can preach the truth to others. To me, and to you does the Lord say, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees; get the message right in your life first.”