This passage picks up the theme from last Friday.
The scribes and the Pharisees were always showing up and taking the best seat at banquets, or in the synagogues, acting as if they were the most important people there.
They would walk in the town so that everyone could see them and praise them.
I bet that we all know people like that!
Whether it’s the football star or head cheerleader in high school, or the wealthiest person in the town – who wants everyone to know it – we can name someone who fits the bill.
Unfortunately, we also find them within the Christian community.
This is the person who is always in church but never has a good word to say about anyone.
This is the woman who makes a point of wearing her best clothes and jewellery to church and looks down her nose at the woman who rushes in with two or three children but has mismatched clothes.
This is the person who claims to fight against abortion and criticizes the unwed mother with her baby.
This is called hypocrisy!
Do our actions reflect our words?
Do people see the love and compassion in us that being a Christian calls us to?
Do we have one set of standards for others and one for ourselves?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves to see if Jesus would call us hypocrites as well.
Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees “blind guides” and “hypocrites.” He calls us to be disciples, people who will lead others to him by the witness of our lives.
If we are not to be blind guides, then the example of our lives needs to conform to Jesus’ law of love.
May we be true representatives of the faith we profess.
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