Put our allegiance in the hands of God

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” In today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 23:13-22), Jesus gets a just little upset with the Pharisees because they are trying to out do each other with their offerings. They put more worth in the offering then in God. As they brought people to God, they required them to give large offerings to demonstrate their worthiness. Jesus tells them that it is not the offerings of gold and silver that make us worthy but the offerings from our heart. The gold on the altar does not make the altar any more valuable. Jesus tells them, “You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?” We cannot make God any more valuable then he already is. There is nothing we can give him that will make God more Godly. God asks us to make a full commitment to Him and not to earthly things which are placed on the altar. The offerings that we bring and the oaths that we make must be to the altar of God and not to our treasures. We should not measure our heavenly value by our earthly treasures but by the commitment we give to God from our hearts. Jesus tells the Pharisees that “he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.” Today’s gospel reading is a direct attack on the Pharisees because they treasure the wealth that is placed on the altar and not the God that makes the treasures valuable. To enter the Kingdom of heaven, to make it through the narrow gate, we too must put our allegiance in the hands of God.

A Simple Prayer Lord, you are my master and I am your servant. My loyalty is to you and the things that are sacred, For it is you that makes all things sacred.

Yours in Christ Michael Marcon