HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME OF YEAR II.
THEME: Why do You clean your outside when inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness?
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OCTOBER 11 2022
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Galatians 5, 1- 6
Ps 118: 41, 43- 45,47- 48
Luke 11: 37- 41
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
GREEN
*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
In today’s first reading, St. Paul reminded the faithful in Galatia, many of whom were Jewish converts to the Christian faith, and there were also being a rather sizeable Jewish diaspora there, to no longer be ‘enslaved’ to the old Law, which was not actually really referring to the Law of God, but rather to the customs, traditions, practices and all those which the people of God in the past had gradually grown to ingrain themselves into, and not only that, but even becoming more and more obsessed on, as they became too engrossed and focused on obeying even the smallest details of those rules and regulations.
*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
In today’s gospel a Pharisee, after hearing Jesus preaching, invites Him for a dinner. This is no doubt because he wants to hear more from Jesus who speaks the Word of God as no one else had done before. But this Pharisee, together with other Pharisees too, denounces Jesus for non-observance of the prescribed religious law of washing before meals. In the first place, Jesus chides the Pharisees for harboring evil thoughts like: greed, pride, bitterness, envy, arrogance and the like. That is why the vast world of our thoughts and interior emotions needs to be sanctified. And so Jesus emphasizes the importance of interior cleanliness. That true cleanliness comes not from the outside but from the heart and this we also call as spiritual cleanliness.
*CONCLUSION*
In the gospel reading, Jesus does not follow the washing rituals that were so important to the Pharisees. Furthermore, he accuses his host and fellow guests of being more concerned with external cleanliness, the ritual cleansing of cups and plates, than with inner, moral cleanliness, which finds expression in almsgiving. Jesus suggests that his host and fellow guests had a somewhat skewed hierarchy of values. They gave too much attention to what was unimportant and too little attention to what was really important. This is a human failing and we are all prone to it in all sorts of ways. We all need to keep going back to the words and deeds of Jesus in order to keep rediscovering what is really important in God’s eyes and what is less so.
*May you all Have a Blessed Week.*