Spiritual Integrity!

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

2 Thess 3: 6-10, 16-18; Mt 23: 27-32

Today’s Gospel continues yesterday’s discussion on religious hypocrisy. 

Today, Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of their double-dealing behaviour. 

Like the whitewashed tomb that only housed the bones of the dead and every kind of filth, they had no problem pretending to be who they were not. They covered up their inner ugliness through external appearance. But they are unaware that they cannot escape the penetrating look of God, who looks into our hearts. What angers Jesus more is not just that they were ‘comfortably’ hypocritical but that they had no compunction of heart to do it in God’s name. For instance, they looked pious; however, their piety was more of attention-seeking behaviour. Jesus thus laments the disconnect between a person’s heart and appearance.

In the second pronouncement, Jesus exposes the dual life of the scribes and Pharisees, especially in the way they honored their dead. For Jesus, the homage they paid to their dead was an indirect approval of what their ancestors did in terms of shedding the prophets’ blood. Jesus was rankled by their words – ‘if we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood’ – because they had been conspiring against his life besides making him endure rejection and denouncement in his public ministry. Just as Jesus predicted, these pretenders who claimed ‘we wouldn’t have’ were precisely the ones who shouted, ‘Crucify him’ (Mt 27: 22, 23) and said, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children’ (Mt 27:25).

What are our takeaways from today’s Gospel?

At times, we may suffer from an illusion of moral superiority and tend to ill-treat others from our self-righteousness. Hence, we must constantly examine our hearts for hidden motives and purify ourselves with God’s grace. 

A deep disconnect between our private thoughts and outward actions only points to our spiritual brokenness. Hence, we need alignment between what we say and what we do. A spiritual person is also a person of moral integrity. 

In Jesus’ view, a good heart becomes the dwelling place of God. In John 14: 23, Jesus says, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ What makes a heart beautiful and pleasing to God is its goodness and purity. 

Let us pray that, acting on God’s word, we may grow into people of spiritual integrity.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar