Pharisaic in us

Explain and point to the Pharisaic in our lives
Some time ago, I bought 2 kg in one store apples for a good price because I like apples. But what was my surprise when I started them gradually to consume? About half of the apples were rotten from the center of the core. They were on the outside beautiful, but inside they were rotten. Unfortunately, apart from the world of fruit, something similar is possibly observed in people’s world. In today’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus points out: The Pharisees, whatever they do, do only for the people to see, but they are inside fulfilling hypocrisy and iniquity (cf. Mt 23: 5-28).

A sevenfold woe follows the gospel we have heard in the Scriptures addressed to the law and the Pharisees. Jesus points to the scribes and Pharisees and keeps his disciples’ multitude before him. What is Pharisaic? That they speak and do not act, they bind unbearable burdens, but they do not want to move them with their finger. We know it in Slovak: I preach wine and drink water. But it would still be characteristics of Pharisaic were not enough. In one of the seven woes, Jesus the Pharisees criticize: “… on the outside you seem righteous to the people, but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity ”(Mt 23:28).

And in the gospel, we heard, “All they do is do it so that men may see them ”(Mt 23: 5a). Thus, Pharisaism is not in conflict spoken with the executed because no contradiction is seen here, but in conflict with man’s internal values and with his external manifestation. Thus, Pharisaism is a contradiction inside a man, but on the outside, it is covered by camouflage. And only he knows about this discrepancy; he who camouflages can hardly be seen on the outside. We don’t see any on the outside contradiction. People did not see this contradiction, but Jesus, seeing into the heart of man, him in the hearts He saw the scribes and the Pharisees, and therefore he says, “Outwardly you appear to men righteous, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity ”(Mt 23:28). But why did the scribes and Pharisees camouflage? Why were they Pharisees? We will find the answer in the fourth woe. “For you give tithes of mint, dill, and cummin, but you have neglected what is in the law. More importantly, justice, mercy, and faithfulness! ”(Mt 23:23). They neglected what more important was to be righteous before God, faithful in the fulfillment of God commanding and exercising merciful love for each person. Instead of that, the Pharisees and scribes sought their interests; they did not want what God required them.  Inside were full of robbery and impurity, full of hypocrisy and iniquity, honesty, and foolishness (cf. Mt 23,6-7,17.25.27).

They didn’t want to change, nor did they want to admit theirs sin; they did not want to humble themselves; they did not want to repent for their sins. Values ​​that they professed to be contrary to God’s values. Therefore, they chose a different tactic. Tactics eye masking. With their false, superficial, internally empty piety, they wanted to deceive the eyes of your conscience, the eyes of men, and the eyes of God. They were such excellent liars that they convinced themselves of their justice and were proud of it. The Pharisees were deformed, a distorted image of God and oneself. They created their own inner world, which also God was happy with them, and they did what they wanted. The idea of ​​God and oneself has thus distorted Pharisees. It is the blindness of the spirit caused by pride. Consider whether we are ever in a Pharisee, or whether it is not in us my distorted image of God, of ourselves, of our faith. The Pharisees thought you were mine by superficial and empty piety. They will secure God’s favor that by such piety. They turn a blind eye to God so that God will not see their sin, which they did not want to give up. Not even from us, God does not want us to perform our religious duties, and acts without our lives have really changed and changed. Come on Sunday for Mass, come here and there to the sacraments to close my eyes on God. Our relationship with God must be carried out in specific events of the day. Forgiveness, malice, greed, indulgence, we may all carry it in our hearts without seeing it. In doing so, we approach the sacraments and become such little Pharisees. I will also give God, what he wants, and I live as I want. Such mathematics and logic do not apply to God. For the witness of our lives must be our religious acts. If not, they become from us Pharisees.

One master worked in a large construction company for many years. He was once ordered to build a demonstration villa to your liking. He could choose the place he liked the most and don’t look at expenses. He immediately set to work but was tempted to use a blind trust. Furthermore, he used inferior material, employed non-experts for low wages, and saved money in this way. He shoved it into his pocket. When the construction was finished, the master handed it over during a small celebration, the key to the company’s director. The headmaster returned it to him with a smile, squeezed his hand, and said, “This one accepts the villa as a gift of respect and gratitude. ”1 God cannot be deceived, his eyes cannot be covered by empty piety, and he cannot think that I am even with the Lord God. God expects us to be as Christians to live and not to be transformed and camouflaged as Christians. Let us ask for the light of the Holy Spirit; let us enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we may know what is Pharisaic in us, what we camouflage before God. Please ask for the power of grace to change that.