No Peace Without Justice

𝐀𝐔𝐆. 𝟐𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝟐:𝟏-𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟑𝟗:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟐𝟑:𝟐𝟑-𝟐𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “..𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅… 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉.” (𝒗.23) 

𝐍𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄

         I strongly feel that Our Lord Jesus Christ is talking to us through His Words in the Sacred Scriptures in view of what is going on in our country today. If you have been following up the news you must have heard about the scandalous P545-Billion flood control project scam perpetrated by unscrupulous contractors with the connivance of the same government agency that is supposed to make sure that government funded projects are done right.

          By far the P545-Billion that has been misused in these projects that have been rendered useless is the biggest technical malversation ever recorded in the history of this country and it is probably by God’s design that this is happening to a government run by another Marcos who happens to be the son of a discredited dictator who was ousted by the divinely-inspired People Power Revolution in 1986.

         If you will notice, the Gospel readings in the past few days were all about the accumulation of wealth and the seemingly sinful preference for wealth over and above reverence for God. And if you will only look closely at the events that led to the mass protest in 2013 against the so-called pork barrel allocation given to legislators and, the P545-Billion flood-control projects scam, you will find some resemblance between the gospel passages and the stench of corruption that has been sweeping our social and political milieu here in the Philippines.

         Some of the legislators involved in this scam will probably try to wiggle their way out of the mess by claiming good intentions in the way their pork barrel funds were appropriated but how these funds have been diverted elsewhere belie such claims.

         But no matter how much good there is in their intentions, the gospel today indicates that the first priority of those in authority is to ensure that justice is carried out to the fullest, that mercy is extended to the poor and the marginalized who have been deprived of basic services and to harmonize their words with their deeds in the practice of their faith.

         And if the reports are true, the only ones whom the people see as having benefited from the good that the pork barrel system were the legislators who were clothed with authority to direct the application of these funds and the individuals who facilitated these transactions.

         Coming to the end of his critique of the burdensome practices that the Pharisees imposed on the Israelites which block their view of God, Jesus now drives homes the point that the injustice we perpetrate, our insincerity in our dealings with our neighbors and, our failure to respond to calls for help from our marginalized and impoverished brethren cannot be offset or replaced by our giving of tithes and or our outward display of good works.

         When reading the Scriptures, we should always remember that the Word of God especially the Gospels were written for specific audiences to address the needs at the time and, Jesus is still using these same words to talk to us and the beauty of it all is that with the advent of modern communication tools we are now in a better position to grasp the substance and meaning of the Gospel message than the people in the time of Jesus.

         If some persist in their ungodly ways, do not blame it on Jesus or on the message but on them who receive or hear of the Word of God because even during the time of Jesus, there were the Pharisees who listened to his discourses, but they lent a deaf ear to what he was saying. The truth was they rejected him and his teachings.

         And this same scenario still exists today as there are among us who have dichotomize our lives with one half attached to Jesus and the other half remaining in the world and all its allurements. We know fully well that this cannot be and that at some point in time we must choose between salvation and damnation.

         There is nothing wrong with tithing as mentioned in this and the previous passage because this is necessary to upbuild the Church and or the religious Community to which we belong but what is wrong is when we tithe, give love offerings and or, donate to projects our motivation is to either impress others or to compensate for our inability to get involved in the mission of the Church which is to evangelize or bring the message of salvation to others.

         I know of several men who gave generously to the Church but how they lived their lives are opposed to the pious image they projected as patrons of the parishes to which they belong. And many times, we too are like the Pharisees. We religiously attend the weekly Prayer Meetings, Bible Reflection in our Ministry and we serve in the outreach programs of our community, and we give generously at every opportunity.

        We see political leaders flaunting their donations and contributions to charitable projects. Almost all of these donations are accompanied by press releases, video coverages and social media posts. It is sad that the poor are being used as props to enhance the public image of these political leaders.

         But we tend to forget that there is another world outside of our Church that is suffering from injustice, insincerity of the temporal leaders to deliver their promise to alleviate the plight of the poor and, the thousands who do not have food on their tables, those who are sick who have no means to seek medical attention, those who cannot read or write. Not that we are judging the actions of our public officials, but this is where they probably are in error, especially when what they do is not what they say.

         This was what Jesus was telling the Pharisees then and he is telling us now in that there shouldn’t be any difference between such outward actions relative to our religion and our devotion to Our God. Both must complement each other for us to merit the favor of God.

         Jesus ends by equating the attitude of the Pharisees to an unclean vessel and a person who is considered as ceremonially unclean is prohibited from entering the Synagogue and or prevented from worshipping God.

         In fact, sin which makes us unclean bars us from entering the Kingdom of God and this is specifically stated in 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢 1861 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘊𝘊: “𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵'𝘴 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥.”        

        Jesus condemned the Pharisees in today’s Gospel reading for outwardly appearing upright and holy but are full of corruption and greed on the inside. Pretending to be a Christian and putting up a mask for others to see is like washing the outside of the cup.

         I remember asking an elderly man what is it that makes him look younger than his age and without any sign of hesitation he said it is what is inside of him that makes all the difference. When I pressed him to elaborate, he said he doesn’t think ill of anyone. He holds no grudge, nor does he keep rancor and recrimination against anyone in his heart. He said he doesn’t turn his back on anyone, and he helps those who are in need. He prays, goes to Church and receives the Eucharist daily.

         In other words, this elderly man was simply trying to follow the two greatest commandments of Jesus and that is “𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥.” And this is what Jesus is telling us now because only those who are clean on the inside can enter the Kingdom of God. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘶𝘨. 26, 2025)