DGeMs- Daily Gospel eMessage
Dear Friend in the Lord,
Hypocrisy in Faith: In today’s Gospel, Jesus reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees for living their faith hypocritically. Jesus asserts that without sincerity, our faith becomes a scandal to others and will drive them further from God’s Truth and Love. Ponder on, “Is my faith wholesome and Christ-centered”?
Fr Philip Heng, S.J.
Matthew 23: 13-17, 22
Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut up the kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go who want to.
‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are.
‘Alas for you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the Temple, it has no force; but anyone who swears by the gold of the Temple is bound.” Fools and blind! For which is of greater value, the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?
‘And someone who swears by the Temple is swearing by that and by the One who dwells in it. And someone who swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and by the One who is seated there.’