Have you ever wanted to be a celebrity? When you walk into Greenspoint1, would you like to have people whisper, “Hey, isn’t she the movie star who just won an academy award?” Or “Isn’t that the guy who made the wining touchdown for the Oilers last week?” Even if you might want more privacy than most movie stars or athletes get, wouldn’t it be great if everyone recognized your outstanding talents and gave you the respect and adulation you really deserve? I think it was Andy Warhol who said everyone would be a celebrity for fifteen minutes. Have you ever asked yourself when your own “fifteen minutes” would come?
Even if you don’t think you want all of the hoopla and problems that come with being a celebrity, a large part of U.S. industry is geared to the idea you really want to be mistaken for one. Much of our advertising exists on the premise you want to be seen as being among the “rich and famous.” All you need to do is buy a pair of “Air Jordans” to be mistaken for a star basketball player. Or wear “Jordach” jeans and be mistaken for a young movie star. You, too, can become just like a celebrity, if you would only drive the “right car,” wear the “right perfume,” or use the “right mouthwash.” It all boils down to the view all you need to do is “such and such” and you, too, can become perfect, well-known and respected, in short, a celebrity.
The advice is not new. Jesus referred to it some two-thousand years ago. There were those in the Jewish community back then who thought all you had to do was wear the right clothes, attend the right parties, sit in the right seats and have the right title. If you did all of this, you, too, would be known as being perfect. Jesus went on to say, however, there was more to being “perfect” than that. This is what the focus for today’s reflection is: we need to practice what we preach.
To begin today’s reflection, however, we might take a brief look at the Pharisees. Sometimes we seem to think that “Pharisee” is a synonym for “hypocrite,” that all Pharisees said one thing and did another. This is really unfair, not only to the Pharisees but, really, to all of the Jews who came later. So, I’d like to talk for a few minutes about early Christian history.
I think most of you realize the Gospel accounts were written sometime between 70 and 100 A.D., that is, about fifty years or so after the death and resurrection of Christ. It was a difficult time for the early Christians. Many of them had expected Jesus would return in his Second Coming before now. He hadn’t, and so there was a concern that those who had known him during his life on earth might die and succeeding generations would not know anything about him. Obviously, the oral tradition had to be written down so it could be preserved without any change.
But why now? Oral tradition had served the Jewish community very well for more than a thousand years. The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, had been committed to memory and transmitted orally from generation to generation. Couldn’t the teachings of Jesus be retained in the same way? They could until about 70 A.D. It was in this year the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish priests, who had led the temple services, who had preserved the oral Pentateuch, were killed by the Romans. Worship in the Temple no longer existed.
A group of Jews, however, was allowed to establish a school, a yeshiva, in a town along the coast. The ones who sought refuge in this town were the Pharisees. The task they undertook was to write down their notes on the interpretation of Torah. The notes were called the “Mishnah.” This written Torah and a later elaboration of the notes, the “Gamarra,” became what is now the “Talmud,” the written interpretation of the law, the Torah. The worship, which was once conducted in the Temple in Jerusalem, was now focused on the synagogue and the home.
And what were the followers of Christ doing? The same thing, formulating and writing down the teachings of Jesus. Without a temple in which to gather and preach, the Apostles and their Jewish followers needed their own alternatives. They met in their own homes and in their own synagogues. Most bible scholars believe that although Jesus probably did not agree with everything the Pharisees did, most of the invective found in the Gospel of Matthew is more a reflection of how Matthew’s community felt about the Pharisees than what Jesus, himself, felt about them.
The Pharisees where much like us. They were well-educated, upper-middle-class Jews who wanted to preserve the word of God. They wanted to be perfect. They thought it was humanly possible to be perfect. The problem is some of them did not practice what they preached. At the beginning of today’s reading from Matthew, we hear these words: “The scribes and the pharisees have succeeded Moses as teachers; therefore, do everything and observe everything they tell you.” It goes on to say: ” … but do not follow their example. Their words are bold but their deeds are few.” It then goes on to describe how some of the Pharisees dressed in public.
Phylacteries were worn by every pious male Jew. They were small, leather boxes which contained parchment with scriptural passages written on them. The boxes were bound on with leather straps, one on the inside of the left arm, the other on the forehead, as a constant reminder of the law, of Torah. At the same time, Jewish men wore prayer shawls with fringes at the four corners. The 613 fringes were to remind them of the 613 laws contained in Torah. Evidently there were some Pharisees who thought that by wearing larger phylacteries or having longer fringes on their prayer shawls, they would appear to be more pious. But before you think this is a strange way to behave, some of you may remember back to the time when Catholic women would prefer to wear a full mantilla instead of a small prayer cap when they entered a church, otherwise some women might think them to be disrespectful.
So much for history. What does all of this have to do with today? Is Jesus not reminding us of three related facts: First of all, it’s not what you wear that makes you perfect. Second, it’s not what fancy titles you have that make you better than anyone else. And third, it’s not what you merely say, but rather what you do that matters more in life.
Most parents would agree kids learn more by what they see than by what they are told. You can’t teach respect for others without being respectful of the rights of others. You can’t speak for the equality of ethnic minorities if you keep on telling racist jokes. You can’t promote peaceful solutions to problems, if your first and last response to every problem is anger. You can’t talk about living a simple life and be a conspicuous consumer. You can’t tell others you respect fidelity in marriage if you support movies and television which suggest extramarital affairs are acceptable ways of life. You can’t convince others to celebrate a Liturgy, if you act as if it’s merely an obligation which is satisfied if you’re present during only the so-called “important parts” of the Mass.
By now most of us have probably seen a public service commercial on television summarizing it as well as anything else might. It’s the one where the father asks his son where he learned about doing drugs, and the son’s response, “From you, Dad.” Each one of us is called to teach through our example, by what we do rather than merely by what we say.
I’m reminded of this when I think back to my ordination to the Diaconate. At the conclusion of the ordination rite, the Bishop presents the “Book of the Gospels” to the newly ordained minister and says: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you are. Believe what you read, Teach what you believe, and Practice what you teach.” It seems to me these words are relevant to all of us and not only to those ordained by a Bishop. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach.
A few minutes ago, I asked if you would like to be a celebrity. Many of you might not like the disadvantages of being in the public spot light, yet would appreciate having the honor and respect associated with the rich and famous. Well, Jesus, has a more difficult question for you. How would you like to be known as “a humble servant”?
An old children’s nursery rhyme gives us several occupational choices: “richman, poorman, beggerman, thief; doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.” Our Lord, it seems, gives us only one occupation, only one calling, as he reminds us: “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” The choice is up to you: celebrity or servant.
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary; November 4, 1990
Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10; 1 Thess 2:7-9,13; Mt 23:1-12
- Time does change references! In 1990 the major, local mall was Greenspoint. It is now abandoned. Willowbrook may have taken its place. The Oilers moved to Tennessee and have been replaced in Houston by the Texans. Air Jordans and Jordach still exist.