Once again in our Gospel today Jesus points to the Pharisees as examples of what not to do and how not to live. For they wore luxurious clothing and placed themselves above others while internally failing to have a true relationship and internal spiritual life. They did not first seek the will of God but their own status.
But many times, we too can find signs of hypocrisy in our own life. By that I mean we can display serious religious practices and outward appearance but lack the spiritual life with in us. We have failed to develop our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit and develop our inner being to embrace the true message of Christ which is to serve others rather than be served.
His whole life was pointing toward the ultimate service of giving his life in service to the needs of others…toward the needs of ourselves. That is why he died on the cross.
So, we too need to understand his teaching that to be great in the kingdom of God is to be a servant to all.
We can not find a path to Heaven by how we dress or pretend to have an inner relationship and focus on Christ. We must follow his way and be a servant to others. That will develop fertile ground in our hearts to allow the Holy Spirit to grow closer to God.
Only the. Will the hypocrisy in our own life be healed and we will possess an integrity of spirit and life. We will the beauty of our faith to shine brightly before others as we seek to be Christ for others.
Gospel
Jesus said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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