One lesson I learn from today’s Gospel is that Jesus did not shy away from calling a spade a spade and a Pharisee a fraud. He was no suave politician, no evasive religious leader, no politically correct educator. But the price he paid for his honesty was the cross. How eager am I to follow his way?
He teaches me that I should not flatter myself with put-on displays. Religion is not a piety show. It is an energy that penetrates the deepest parts of my personality that gives me life. When prayer is authentic it puts me before God as I am, not as I like to think I am, or to pretend to other who I am. It makes me honest.
When I am honest, the Holy Spirit opens my eyes to see others in my life as Jesus sees them. To the extent that I make myself aware of those about me I see the suave, the evasive and the politically correct are lovable. The cross sharpens and broadens my vision; I see them better and their number increases.
The energy that true religion, as opposed to show religion, gives me is shown in the sympathy, understanding and awareness of those who come into my life on a daily basis. If that is not the case, my prayer is pharisaical in kind.