One and the same thing can serve us well, but it can also be harmful. What matters is whether we need it and whether we accept it. Medicine can harm, but it can also help. An admonition, which is carried out with feeling and tact, can also be a remedy. An accusation can also bring harm if a person does not accept it as it should. Let’s notice the admonition of the Pharisees by Jesus: “Woe to you, Pharisees, because you tithe mint, rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love!” This was to be done and that not to be neglected” (Lk 11:42). These were the harsh words of the Lord Jesus addressed to pious and educated theologians, experts in the Law. However, they are true and justified words, because they touch on pretense. We know about this group of the Jewish people , that they considered themselves perfect, and they showed this by their behavior. They sat in the first places in the synagogues, liked to receive greetings on the street, allowed themselves to be addressed as: teacher. That is why Jesus addresses these words to them: “Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people do not even know what they are walking for” (Luke 11:44).
Piety – it is not just giving tithes when they have something, when it is from a surplus, when it costs them nothing, so to speak. Piety is a matter of love, which must come from within a person, from his conviction, and this must serve to glorify God, and not glorify the giver. Where there is love, there is no talk of egoism, self-love, or pride. Love does not offend, but encourages. Pride works evil. Love knows no boundaries. It is selfless, as Paul says in the Letter to the Corinthians: “Love is patient, love is kind; it does not envy, it does not shut itself off, it does not boast, it is not shameless, it is not selfish, it does not get angry, it does not think about evil, it does not rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:4-6). This confession of Paul about love does not have and it can have nothing to do with the behavior of the Pharisees. And just by listening we feel where the truth is, where the value is hidden…. So love knows no bounds, but the behavior of the Pharisees does not indicate that.
The text of the Gospel is a lesson for us to let love affect each other, although it is sometimes difficult and requires effort and sacrifice, but it is also an enrichment. On the other hand, the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees kills. Christ, who is our teacher, clearly teaches us that we must not cultivate a pretense in ourselves, that is, we must not have a different behavior on the outside and a different behavior on the inside. When we feel that this applies to us as well, it is a sign to start a sincere change in the attitudes of our life. We realize that even if we outwardly speak and act however well, nicely, deservedly, and it does not match the love that springs from conviction, it would all be just like tinkling metal and a ringing bell.
It is beautiful when love is expressed not only in words, but in deeds. After all, the Lord Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Let’s be careful.
