Religion as Authentic Interiority!

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

1 Thess 2:1-8; Mt 23:23-26

Today’s Gospel continues the theme of religion as authentic interiority. 

In his two woe messages today, Jesus condemns the hypocritical obsession of the scribes and Pharisees, who placed more weight on external rituals than internal transformation. 

Citing the instance of paying the tithes (not that Jesus was against tithing per se!), Jesus underlines that the scribes and Pharisees were so meticulous about paying tithes of mint, dill, and cummin (which were not typically required by the Mosaic laws – Lev 27:30-33) but neglected the ‘weightier things of the law,’ which refer not to the most difficult rule or law but to the most decisive attitude or disposition about those laws. As such, their religiosity, steeped in rituals, had no place for justice, mercy, and fidelity, which were central to God’s will. Jesus also presents a humorous picture from the Kosher diet (dietary laws of Judaism) to show the height of hypocrisy that they would strain out a microscopic insect like a gnat while cheerfully swallowing a camel. This hyperbolic picture best illustrates their misplaced priorities – they were obsessed with the smallest impurity while gleefully missing a much larger one. It is Jesus’ way of demonstrating the complete loss of the sense of proportion in those hypocritical religious leaders. 

In the second instance, through the imagery of ‘clean outside’ and ‘dirty inside,’ Jesus critiques their religious observances that lacked any motivation toward internal transformation. In other words, Jesus prioritizes inner sanctification as the desired outcome of a religious activity. But the religious leaders missed the point completely and could not imagine that such inner transformation leads to external integrity. Their superficial religiosity rendered them unable to open their eyes to a transformative view of religion, which Jesus preached and lived. 

In all, Jesus repeatedly throws the word ‘hypocrites’ at the scribes and Pharisees to indicate their ‘religious performances lacking moral substance.’ 

Let us pray that our religious observances may help us grow in our moral integrity. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar