Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

MATTHEW 23:1-12
MUMMAR KADAFI WAS THE ABSOLUTE RULER OF LIBYA FOR FORTY TWO YEARS. I WAS JUST FINISHING MEDICAL SCHOOL WHEN HE CAME TO POWER, THE LEADER OF A GROUP OF MIDDLE-LEVEL MILITARY MEN WHO OVERTHREW THE KING. HE MOVED RAPIDLY TO CONSOLIDATE HIS POWER, AND IT WASN'T TOO HARD, BECAUSE THE PEOPLE OF LIBYA THOUGHT THAT ANYTHING WOULD BE BETTER THAN WHAT THEY HAD BEFORE. AND INITIALLY, KADAFI DIDN'T DISAPPOINT THEM. I REMEMBER READING AN ARTICLE NOW AND THEN ABOUT THE REVOLUTION KADAFI WAS BRINGING ABOUT. HE WAS BUILDING SCHOOLS, TRYING TO DEVELOP THE OIL INDUSTRY, MODERNIZING CITIES. AND IN THOSE DAYS HE HAD A HUGE AMOUNT OF SUPPORT. BUT SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE SOMETHING CHANGED. HE BEGAN REPRESSING THE BEDOIN POPULATION, A MINORITY GROUP. ONCE WHERE HE WAS THE LEADER OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE TRYING TO CHANGE THE COUNTRY, HE TRANSITIONED TO BECOME THE ABSOLUTE RULER; THOSE HE DIDN'T KILL HE EXILED. AND AT SOME POINT HE MUST HAVE BELIEVED HE WAS SO IMPORTANT, SO WISE, THAT HE GENERATED A TEXT CALLED “THE GREEN BOOK” WHICH CONTAINED HIS IDEAS ABOUT HOW SOCIETY SHOULD BE ORGANIZED AND RUN. EVERYONE HAD TO STUDY THIS BOOK, AND YOU COULD EVEN GET AN ADVANCED DEGREE IN IT AT THE UNIVERSITY SO THAT YOU COULD GO OUT AND TEACH IT. AND KADAFI ENDED UP A PARANOID, A TERRORIST, AND UNFORTUNATELY, A CLOWN FIGURE TO MOST OF THOSE WHO OBSERVED HIM.
THE PHARISEES AND THE SCRIBES DID NOT START OUT TO IMPOSE HEAVY BURDENS, TO SEEK OUT HONORS, TO WALK AROUND WITH THE SYMBOLS OF THEIR OFFICES EXAGGERATED AND DECORATED. I IMAGINE WHEN THEY FIRST DISCERNED A VOCATION TO TEACH THE LAW, BOTH BY WORD AND EXAMPLE, THEY WERE VERY SINCERE, THEY SAW THEMSELVES AS DOING GOD'S WORK, AND INDEED THEY WERE. BUT AFTER A WHILE, JESUS CONDEMNS THEM. HE CALLS THEM HYPOCRITES IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, BUT THAT WORD DOESN'T QUITE HAVE THE SAME MEANING AS WE MIGHT EXPECT IN ENGLISH, THE IDEA OF SAYING ONE THING AND DOING THE OPPOSITE. THE WORD JESUS PROBABLY USED MEANT SOMETHING LIKE “ACTOR”. THE PHARISEES DID NOT SAY ONE THING AND DO ANOTHER. THEY WERE VERY HARD ON THEMSELVES; BUT THE WAY THEY TREATED THOSE TO WHOM THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE DEMONSTRATED THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY FASTED AND GAVE ALMS AND RIGOROUSLY FOLLOWED THE LAW, THERE HAD BEEN NO INNER CONVERSION.
AND I THINK THAT IS THE LESSON JESUS IS TEACHING US TODAY. BEWARE OF POWER, OF POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP; BEWARE WHEN SOMEONE IS HONORING YOU. EVEN IF YOU ARE A SAINT, YOU ARE RISKING YOUR SOUL. MOTHER THERESA, CERTAINLY A MODERN SAINT, WAS KNOWN TO HAVE A VERY STRONG SENSE OF HER OWN RIGHTNESS WHERE HER MINISTRY WAS CONCERNED; IF YOU WANTED TO WORK WITH HER, IT WAS “MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY”. JOHN PAUL II WAS KNOWN TO BE IMPULSIVE; SOME OF THE THINGS HE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO DO WERE FORTUNATELY NOT DONE BECAUSE OF COOLER HEADS IN THE VATICAN. EVEN SAINT FRANCIS WAS A LITTLE BIT CORRUPTED BY POWER AND HONOR AND LEADERSHIP, TO THE EXTENT THAT HIS BROTHERS QUIETLY DEMOTED HIM FROM RUNNING THE ORDER IN HIS LATER YEARS.
THERE IS THAT OLD SAYING, “POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY.” JESUS LOOKS AT THE PHARISEES; ON ONE LEVEL, HE RECOGNIZES HOW ZEALOUS THEY ARE TO TEACH AND PASS ON THE LAW. YOU COULD COUNT ON THE FACT THAT A PHARISEE WOULD NEVER TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT THE LAW THAT WASN'T TRUE. SO HE TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS TO LISTEN TO THEM, PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY SAY. BUT HE POINTS OUT THAT THEY HAVE SUCCUMBED TO THE CORRUPTING INFLUENCE OF THEIR POSITIONS. THEY HAVE REACHED THE POINT WHERE THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, THAT THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO, THAT THE HONORS WHICH THEY RECEIVE ARE THINGS THEY DESERVE. AND AMONG JESUS' FOLLOWERS, THERE IS TO BE NONE OF THIS, OR AT LEAST THE VERY LEAST. TITLES OF HONOR ARE OUT; JESUS WOULD NOT APPROVE OF SIGNS OF AUTHORITY. AND AN AUTHENTIC LEADER IS CHARACTERIZED BY ONE THING -- THAT HE OR SHE IS FIRST OF ALL A SERVANT.