Matter of the Heart!

Monday, August 25, 2025

1 Thess 1:1-5, 8b-10; Mt 23:13-22

Today’s Gospel highlights that spirituality is a matter of the heart and not some external ritual. 

The text presents three woes of the seven, which expose the religious hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, censure their spiritual-blocking behaviour, and condemn the misuse of spiritual authority. 

1. The lives of the scribes and Pharisees were far from edifying and, rather, a threat to others. Their legalism and spiritual pride led to a disservice in the name of religious leadership. Here, through his woe, Jesus holds them accountable not only for their own pitiable spiritual state but also for hindering others by becoming the spiritual blocks themselves. This is why, concerning the blind guides, Jesus said, ‘If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit’ (Mt 15:14). 

2. The scribes and Pharisees made the lives of the new converts worse by deliberately misleading them. After investing time and energy to win someone, they only presented a false version of faith. Hence, the new converts, who inherited the false religiosity of their leaders, began to act like them, giving more importance to externalities of religious faith without achieving internal transformation. As a result, the converts could not become disciples. 

3. Jesus condemns the sophisticated but evasive legal distinctions around oaths. The religious leaders betrayed their failure to grasp the holiness of God. For instance, they adored the gold, but not the God who made the Temple holy. They emphasized the importance of an object like a gift, without the focus on the Giver. Their misguided cleverness strayed from Jesus’ teaching on swearing that ‘All you need to say is simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one’ (Mt 5:37). 

In his message of woes, Jesus holds that genuine spirituality is a matter of the heart and not some rootless externality. 

Let us pray that we may grow in sincerity of heart, which alone is the worthy sacrifice acceptable to God.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar