Tuesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time - Luke 11:37-41
The Gospel for today is extremely short (only 4
verses). Jesus had been preaching much of the day. After he finished, one of
the men in the crowd who was a Pharisee invited Jesus to come to his house and
dine with him. Jesus accepted his invitation.
The meal had begun when suddenly the host realized
that Jesus had not observed the ritual washing that was customary before
dining. The man was very surprised at this. From the Gospel we don’t know if
the host confronted Jesus about this infraction of Jewish customs or if Jesus
simply saw that his host was upset that Jesus had not honored one of the
customs of their faith.
In the reading Jesus gets very impatient with
the man and his rules and regulations. Jesus accuses the man of outwardly doing
what is required by their customs. Jesus could see that the Pharisee’s heart
was filled with greed. The Pharisee followed the law but what was his
motivation?
Today Jesus invites us to look closely at our
motivations. Why do we do what we do? Are our choices and actions prompted by
our desire to truly follow Jesus’ example? Or do we do what is considered
correct simply because we want to “look good?”
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