ALL SAINTS' HOUGHTON REGIS
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Safeguarding
    • Survey
  • The Parish
    • People
    • All Saints' Parish Church
    • St Thomas'
    • Choir
    • Bells
    • Schools
  • Our Faith
    • Learning
    • Prayer Resources
    • Rosary
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Easter
    • Mass
    • Walsingham Cell
  • Life Events
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Confession
    • Anointing
    • Home Blessings
  • What's on
    • Coffee Mornings
    • Knitting Group
    • Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage
  • Giving
    • Parish Giving Scheme
    • Lagacies
    • Restoration
    • Memorial Path

Homilies

(Sunday sermons, talks, and teaching)

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

5/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus says, ‘you have only one master, and you are all brothers.’ (Matt 23:8)

The Bible texts we have just read, with their references to priesthood and teaching ministry, are sadly not the texts used at ordinations within the Church of England. Maybe this is a missed opportunity for checking, at the eleventh hour, that the candidates standing before the bishop truly understand what they are letting themselves in for. But I suspect that introducing these texts might also lead to an increase in the numbers of last-minute drop outs.

In today’s gospel, we see Jesus criticising once again the religious elite of his time as we have seen him doing many times already in the last few weeks. These people, and especially the scribes, were considered the official interprets of the Law, of the Scriptures, and because of this they could claim for themselves position of power in Jewish society, the respect and admiration of everyone, and they could also express judgment – often harsh judgment – on the morality of others. And so the Lord reproaches them because they exalted themselves above fellow Israelites, because they themselves failed to live up to the high standard they set for others, and because through their strict teachings they caused people to stumble in their faith (cf. Mal 2:8). The Church too does not have good track record on this issue. History records countless times when individuals charged with the governance of God’s people have abused their positions of authority, promoted moral double-standards, and failed to care for the flock of Christ. So both the Lord’s criticism to the scribes and Pharisees, and the prophecy of Malachi in our first reading, still ring true today.

Yet, the Lord’s teaching is not directed to the scribes and Pharisees, or priests and theologians, alone; it is aimed to all his disciples and the crowds as well. This is because the point Jesus is trying to put across is not a subversive message against the entire religious establishment, but against those who misuse religion for personal gain, to acquire for themselves moral high ground in every situation, and to conquer the respect of others. The point Jesus wants to understand is this ‘you have only one master, and you are all brothers’ (Matt 23:8). If we excuse the gender exclusive language, Jesus is saying that we are all equal before him, and all equal before the Father in heaven. Jesus does recognise that there are people called by God to positions of authority and by saying, ‘You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say’ (Matt 23) he invites everyone to respect their ministry and, if possible, to learn from them – even when these prove themselves to be wanting in the way they lead their lives.

Within our Christian family there are those who have special responsibility, people entrusted with a duty of care, but this does not change the fact that we are all fundamentally siblings – beloved children of God by adoption whom the Father sees as equal members of the body of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. In this sense, when Jesus commands us to call no-one father or teacher he wants us to reflect on what those titles mean. This is not a blanket ban on using the words “father” and “teacher”. Jesus is not saying that to call a priest Father is wrong, like many evangelicals would have us believe. In ancient times fathers had the ultimate say in everything – even life or death – for everyone in their household, they could even sell off their children. Teachers too could be harsh masters of their pupils. So Jesus says, no-one but God should have this level of authority over anyone of us, because we are all brothers.

The words of the liturgy help us understand this better. However we refer to our priests in terms of titles – Father, Reverend, Mother, Vicar – at the moment in which the offerings of bread and wine are placed upon the altar, the celebrant says, ‘Pray, my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours will be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father’. As the liturgy of the sacrament enters into its most profound part, the balance between congregation and priest, the balance among the people of God, is redressed to highlight the fact that actually “we are all brothers and sisters” before God the Father.
 
The ground-breaking teaching of today’s gospel is not “don’t call anyone father or teacher” but is ‘you are all brothers and sisters’ before God. And, as our society appears to become more and more fragmented, more and more divided by the partisan language of “us” and “them”, the Lord’s commands us to rediscover what it means to be part of the same family, the same household of God.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All
    1John
    1Peter
    1Thessalonians
    1Timothy
    2Corinthians
    Acts
    Advent
    All Souls
    Amos
    Angels
    Baptism
    Beatific Vision
    Benedict XVI
    BVM
    Catechesis
    Charity/Love
    Christian Unity
    Christmas
    Church Fathers
    Civic Service
    Compassion
    Creed
    Daniel
    Death
    Deuteronomy
    Divine Mercy
    Easter
    Ephesians
    Epiphany
    Ethics
    Eucharist
    Eucharistic Adoration
    Ezekiel
    Faith
    Francis
    Friendship
    Galatians
    Genesis
    Gratitude
    Healing
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Week
    Homily
    Hope
    Humility
    Hymns
    Incarnation
    Isaiah
    James
    Jesus Christ
    Job
    John
    Joy
    Judgment
    Justin Welby
    Lent
    Leviticus
    Liturgy
    Luke
    Mark
    Matthew
    Ordinary Time
    Parables
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Prayer
    Prayer For The Dead
    Psalms
    Remembrance
    Revelation/Apocalypse
    Romans
    Sacraments
    Sacred Heart
    Saints
    St Alphonsus
    St Anselm
    St Augustine
    St John The Baptist
    St Paul
    St Peter
    The Christian Life
    The Church
    The Cross
    Thy Kingdom Come
    Vatican II
    Vices
    Virtues
    Vocations
    Worship

    RSS Feed

All Saints' Parish Church
Bedford Road, Houghton Regis
LU5 5DJ

St Thomas' Church
and Parish Office
Lowry Drive, Houghton Regis.
LU5 5SJ
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Safeguarding
    • Survey
  • The Parish
    • People
    • All Saints' Parish Church
    • St Thomas'
    • Choir
    • Bells
    • Schools
  • Our Faith
    • Learning
    • Prayer Resources
    • Rosary
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Easter
    • Mass
    • Walsingham Cell
  • Life Events
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Confession
    • Anointing
    • Home Blessings
  • What's on
    • Coffee Mornings
    • Knitting Group
    • Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage
  • Giving
    • Parish Giving Scheme
    • Lagacies
    • Restoration
    • Memorial Path