Daily Catholic Lectio
Sunday, 5 November 2023
Thirty-first Sunday of the Year
Malachi 1:14, 2:1-2, 8-10. 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13. Matthew 23:1-12.
Narrowing the distance!
When we crawl on the lap of God, our hearts obtain serenity and calmness. Such a heart is close to God and to one another.
According to the Second Creation Narrative, the Lord makes the woman from the rib of the man and brings her to him. The man who sees the woman exclaims, ‘Behold, the bone of my bone and the flesh of flesh’ (cf. Gen 2:23). He feels that he is connected to her. He feels that he is connected to God as well, for God is so close to a human person that he could cut him open and take his rib out. But, after eating the forbidden fruit, the same man tells God, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (cf. Gen 3:12). The closeness turns out to be the distance.
All throughout our lives, we have been pulled between closeness and distance. The readings of the day invite us to narrow the distance between God and one another.
The gospel reading is set in the context of Jesus addressing the Pharisees, the Teachers of the Law, and the Scribes. Jesus, after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple. This act of cleansing the temple provoked his enemies, for it was believed that the Messiah, on his arrival, would cleanse the temple. They were not willing to accept a Galilean peasant as the Messiah. Different groups conspired against Jesus. Four groups of people – Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Teachers of the Law – came to him to trap him in his speech. But Jesus did not become a victim. Having encountered these groups, Jesus warned his disciples and the people about them. The passage brings to light the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the narrow-mindedness of religion, and the prevalent purity-impurity discrimination.
In the gospel reading, Jesus’ words are addressed to the people and his disciples. Three themes emerge in Jesus’ words: (a) Jesus condemns the scribes and the Pharisees for their gap between their words and deeds. (b) Getting rid of the titles of honour. And (c) Being humble.
The scribes and the Pharisees taught the Law, but they did not practice it. There was a gap or distance between their words and deeds. And there was distance between them and the people because of their titles. They adorned themselves with titles such as Rabbi, Father, and Teacher. And because of their pride, they were distant from God as well.
Jesus teaches that his disciple must narrow the distance between his or her words and deeds, between him or her and people, and between him or her and God.
The first reading is taken from Malachi, the last book of the Hebrew Bible. The book was written around the 4th century BCE. The people of Israel, after returning from exile in Babylonia, built their city, temple, and community. Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai were the people responsible for this. After a few years, people forgot their lives in exile. They did not realise that the exile was a punishment from God. They went back to their old way of life. Their social and religious lives began to have many aberrations. The priests, instead of correcting the people, were indifferent to them. At times, they misguided the people. The prophet Malachi condemns the priests for their hypocrisy, indifference, and pride.
The priests of that time were distant from God. There was a distance between what they taught and how they lived. The prophet warned that God would bring them down from their glory.
The scribes and the Pharisees whom we see in the gospel reading and the priests whom we see in the first reading are distant from God. But the second reading brings before us Saint Paul, who was very close to his people. Paul writes to the Church in Thessalonica: “We were gentle (compassionate) among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.” Compassion in Hebrew is said with a word-picture of a mother looking at her nursing child. Paul further writes that he was ready to give himself.
The readings of the day pose before us only one challenge: ‘narrowing the distance!’
We need to narrow the distance between our words and deeds, the distance from others, and the distance from God.
(a) How do we narrow the distance between our words and deeds?
The distance between our words and deeds makes us liars or hypocrites in others’ eyes. Jesus himself gives us a solution: ‘Let what you say be simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’’. (cf. Mt 5:37). The precision of words is the starting point. And we must not promise ourselves or others more than what we can do. We must try to practice what we preach to others.
(b) How do we bridge the distance between us and others?
The titles that the scribes and the Pharisees used, such as ‘Rabbi,’ ‘teacher,’ ‘Father’, are set in a larger context. Christ is the Rabbi and the Teacher, and God is the Father. Jesus said that his disciples are ‘brothers and sisters.’ The titles that we possess must alienate us from others. In the context of our reflection on the synodal church, our Holy Father wants us to let go of our titles as Pope, Cardinal, Bishops, Priests, Religious, and Lay people. These titles not only distance us from one another but also set a hierarchy. When we shed these titles and embrace our identity as brothers and sisters, we bridge the gap.
(c) How do we decrease the distance between God and us?
Jesus says that one becomes great by being a servant. He further adds, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Pride distances us from God. Our first parents ate the forbidden fruit because of their desire to be like God; in their pride, they exalted themselves to be like God. The opposite of pride is humility, which makes us come close to God. ‘Humility’ comes from the Latin root ‘humus’, which means ‘mud or clay.’ This mud or clay refers to the matter with which the Lord made us. Only when we are mud and clay will God embrace us. Through humility, we come close to God. Humility gives us inner freedom – to be who we really are. This makes us transcend our titles that come from without.
In the responsorial Psalm (cf. Ps 131), David prays, “My heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not haughty. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too mysterious for me.” He concludes with a beautiful metaphor. His soul, with serenity and calmness, feels like a child crawling on the lap of its mother.
When we crawl on the lap of God, our hearts obtain serenity and calmness. Such a heart is close to God and to one another.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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