Readings:
Jeremiah 7:1-11
Matthew 13:24-30
Reflection:
Today’s first reading, from the prophet Jeremiah (7:1-11), calls out the hypocrisy of empty ritual and lip service to divine tradition. Jeremiah singles out those who claim that enacting rituals and occupying holy places is sufficient to placate the Lord. He rams home the message that moral action, compassion and care for the needy, are essential for true worship: ‘if you treat each fairly, if you do not exploit the stranger, the orphan and the widow…and if you do not follow alien gods, then here in this place I will stay with you’. True fidelity to the Lord and true worship are characterized by living with the love of neighbour, made in the Lord’s image. Psalm 83 expresses the love of God’s house that is experienced in true worship, the joy to be in God’s presence in his holy temple. When love of God is fused with love of neighbour, then God’s house is a true home for the believer, and ritual and prayer find their authentic and beautiful meaning. Today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 13:24-30) is one of a series of parables at this point of the Gospel of Matthew. It grapples with the reality that humanity and the Church are morally complex, a ‘mixed bag’. Those of good intentions are ‘cheek by jowl’ with those who are self-seeking. True judgement of the difference between good and evil must be made with care and discernment, alert both to hypocrisy and genuine striving for repentance.
Robert Gascoigne is a parishioner at St Brigid’s, Marrickville. He is a theologian who taught for many years at the Australian Catholic University.