Greed Corrupts The Soul

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟏𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟏:𝟏𝟔-𝟐𝟓

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟗:𝟐-𝟓 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲  𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟏:𝟑𝟕-𝟒𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: "𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖." (𝒗.41) 

         In your face! This is not an expression but a type of situation that puts you in a position to say what you feel about another person without pulling your punches and this is prevalent in Western countries. It means that you can tell someone what is wrong with him, his faults, his misdemeanor and, standing your ground. There is another word for it – brutally frank.

         People regardless of the culture and traditions they grew up in are likely to change once they step into another environment and are influenced by the culture of the country or places they settle in. And because the primary reason for most of this migration is economic, migrants will certainly also acquire not only the diverse character of the populace they socialize with but also the materialistic nature of the place they have integrated into.

         This is why even close family relations these migrants left behind are surprised to find the changes in their relatives and friends. From being the courteous and likable person, they used to know, family and friends will come to grips with persons whom they hardly know, not only because of the long years they haven’t seen them but more so because of the radical makeover in the nature and character of many of these migrants.

         But the narrative in today’s Gospel doesn’t speak of Jesus changing his nature but we see him telling the Pharisees with all the frankness at his command what was wrong with them: “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑷𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔.” (𝒗.39) And just to show you how serious he was Jesus even followed this up in with: “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆! 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐?” (𝒗.40)        

         These are indeed strong words that could only come from Jesus because he knows whereof he stands. It may sound unkind, but Jesus may have felt he has no other choice but to stop the Pharisees from institutionalizing their wrong beliefs and interpretation of the Mosaic laws.

         This face-off came about when a Pharisee decided to invite Jesus to dinner in his home after listening to his preaching perhaps to hear more from the kind of wisdom that Jesus had that no one else had spoken before.

         But as they were to start eating their meal, Jesus did something that was out of the ordinary or to a certain extent a violation of the existing tradition for Jewish priests to perform the ceremonial washing of the hands before a meal. It is also possible that Jesus did it on purpose because he wants to deliver a message to the Pharisees.

          This was probably the opening that Jesus was waiting for as he blatantly told the Pharisees that what was important was not the externals but what is inside. It was like Jesus telling the Pharisees and those listening to him of what could be more important, clean hands or a clean heart?

         And Jesus went on to say why the Pharisees fill their hearts with greed, arrogance, pride that he likened to the outside of the cup instead of filling the inside or their hearts with love and compassion that will keep out such negative spirits in a person.

         Today this challenge remains and the question that we need to ask is how far have we allowed Jesus to transform us. Did we put our old self at the foot of the cross when we were baptized in the Spirit? Or do we still allow our old self to dominate our persona?

         In this Gospel, Jesus is inviting us to look into the deepest recesses of our hearts and to gather the courage to remove from our midst the evil spirit that compass us about – greed which provides the window for all the other negative spirits to enter into our hearts.

         And greed doesn’t just refer to the insatiable appetite to accumulate material wealth but anything that we crave for regardless of the means by which we acquire it and this could be positions in the workplace, social organization or even in the church for that matter.

        To some extent, greed even refers to the way we behave and relate to others by imposing our beliefs, views and positions that we want others to embrace. In other words, throwing our weight around and thinking highly only of ourselves is a form of greed.

         And greed for the most part is often present behind ambition which has influenced even the people of ancient Israel. In what could be a similarity between the then and now, as in the story of Korah who desired the power of the priesthood and Moses saw through this greed for power and position (𝐍𝐮𝐦 𝟏𝟔:𝟏-𝟐𝟐). Inappropriate ambition is greed in disguise and even today, this greed for power and position has driven people to manipulate situations and even perceptions just so they will get noticed as they weave their way up towards a leadership position.

         This was what Jesus wanted to point out because the ceremonial washing of the hands was a practice reserved only for priests in the olden times and need not be observed by the people and Jesus brought to fore the case of the Pharisees who filled themselves with rules and regulations but have no heart for the needs of the poor.

         Again, we can see ourselves in this category as Jesus implores us to take stock of ourselves and see what areas in our lives do we need to change that we may not become Pharisaic.

         Perhaps we can begin by asking ourselves how we used the resources that God has entrusted to us may these be the materials blessings we have received or the gifts of the Holy Spirit that was poured on us in our baptism in the Holy Spirit or the virtues infused in us when we were confirmed.

         More than our diligence in the performance of our functions and responsibilities in our careers, in the social organization or church to which we belong, Jesus puts a premium and importance on how we relate to the poor because the purity of our hearts is measured by our generosity towards those who are poor materially and poor in spirit.

          Jesus ends saying: “𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.41) At the end of the day, we will all be measured not by our speech or the ideas we proposed but by our deeds which should mirror what we say. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 14, 2025)