Homily

Think of some ideas that you question. Maybe even one idea with which you disagree. Now, think of some ideas that you strongly agree with. Could your questions be colored (biased) by something you dislike in the manner, personality, habits or actions of the persons who assert those things? Is it possible that you agree with those positions mostly because you like the person who asserts those things? Or did you disagree or agree because the ideas were false or truthful?

The Pharisees would put phylacteries on their heads that were bigger than everyone else so that they would be noticed. They were looking for attention. They were looking to look good all the while they were sinful inside. were people who were hypocrites. Jesus warns us about this. While recognizing their unholiness, their scrupulosity, the hypocrisy still told the people to listen and obey their teachings and don’t follow their example. Furthermore, don’t let their own sinfulness get in the way from listening to the message they were called to give. This is a warning which can go two ways: for the good and the bad.

Let me use myself as an example. Maybe I’ve said something and you’ve disagreed with it. Is it because you don’t like me, the messenger or the message? This can go the other way around too. Maybe I’ve said something you really agree with. I ask the same question: Is it because I said it or is it because it rings with the truth?

I realize that when people come to me that I am not the most compelling individual to offer commentary or advice about certain topics. I’m not a parent nor am I going to get married, yet does that mean I cannot offer help or advice about parenting or marriage because I’ve never lived those experiences? That would be a basic fallacy of logic. It’s a human fallacy, and we are susceptible to it all the time. Myself included. Just because someone doesn’t live in another person’s shoes, that doesn’t mean that they cannot speak a truth about that related topic. Certainly, experience will make the person more compelling and likely able to offer stories from personal experience. Jesus was aware of this when he told the people to listen to the Pharisees, but don’t follow their example. When I speak to engaged couples, I will refer to other people’s wisdom and share other people’s experience.

Fallacy or not, what we say will be colored by what we do. Our actions can get in the way of what we say. But, we are being challenged not to let the poor example of others get in the way of the messages we hear. In fact, even our enemy can share a truth with us, but if we are closed to the message, then that would be a real spiritual poverty. We might not hear God speak to us. God will use anyone and any situation that he wills in order to speak to us. But, are we always listening? Do we let our emotions, our likes or dislikes too quickly sway us such that we might miss the truth when it comes our way?

This can happen in families. Strangely enough, one might think that these are the ones we will most likely listen to. Yet, we struggle to listen to the messages our loved one’s offer because we become jaded, lazy, and maybe even deaf to what they say. “Take out the garbage,” or “Clean up your room” just fade into the air. OR maybe we prefer to listen to ourselves instead. We might ask, “Why can’t I eat as many chocolates as I want?” or “Why can’t I play in the rain as long as I want?”

This is one of the points that Jesus was trying to teach us. Listen, and don’t let the messenger get in your way. If you let the bad attitude and sinfulness, or the charisma and warm disposition of a person sway you about an idea, then you are falling into the trap that Jesus warned us about.

There are Pharisees in all our lives. Maybe it’s a boss or a coworker. Maybe it’s a parent or a friend. Listen to them anyway. God is trying to speak to each of us. He is trying to send us a message. Yet if we close ourselves off from what is being spoken to us, then we may have a hard time listening to the message. Humble yourself and listen. See if a bias lies within you. By recognizing it, then you are on your way to listening better, for you will be able to distinguish the messenger from the message.

So, if you say that you don’t hear God speaking, then maybe it isn’t that God isn’t speaking, but that you’re the problem in your spiritual life. Either you’re in your own way or you’ve allowed someone else to get in your way. It’s understandable. For when they have exalted themselves, you’ve become deaf to it. So maybe humble yourself and listen anew. Discern what it is that has been said, and if it is true, listen to it.