found guilty

Jesus has harsh words today for the religious leaders of His day, in the One Year Bible reading from Matthew 23:13-39. He lists the sins of those leaders - and most of what they amount to is being hypocrites. Pretending to be pure and holy, but actually being full of greed, causing the little ones to be beat down by all of their laws, with no mercy and no help from them.

Unfortunately, it's 2000 years later and we still see this problem. We see people who look down their noses at others and condemn them, while not even lifting a prayer on their behalf. We have people in the church who think they're better than their preachers, better than the Pope, holier than those in positions of religious authority... and rather than pray for them or help them in some way, they go to social media and gossip about them.

We all need to realize how easy it is to become Pharisaical in our pursuit of holiness. It's so easy to slip into thinking we're better than "those sinners" because we were fortunate enough to grow up in a family that goes to church. And it IS important for us to be holy. God tells us, "Be holy, for I am holy." So how do we do that? How can we avoid the sin of self righteousness, while in fact becoming righteous?

Well, let's look back to last week's blog, shall we? When the religious leaders came and asked Jesus what the most important command was, did He say, "Be HOLY!" No. Did He say, "Give ten percent to the church!" No. Did He say, "Stop enjoying your life! Swear off of good food and happiness!" No.

He said love. Love God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Love. It's not just what makes a Subaru a Subaru, though it is that. It's not just what makes the world go around, but it's that too.

It's how we walk that line. How we become holy without being holier than thou. How we follow Jesus without becoming insufferable to those around us.

Beloved, let's love one another.

God, thanks for teaching us that love helps us become like You.