Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
In the Gospel today, Jesus incisively delineates between the superficial, performative exterior façade that the Pharisees present in public and the interior, spiritual reality of their hardened hearts. Once again, Jesus is not taking issue with exterior fidelity to traditional religious practices or cultural customs in and of themselves. On this score, I would invite you to revisit the reflections from the past two days.
What Jesus is really pointing out in this passage is that the value of an exterior act is entirely dependent on the interior intentionality of the person in question. Acts of superficial righteousness undertaken from selfish, hard-hearted, or otherwise self-serving motives have little or no value, no matter how great they appear. Conversely, a humbled, contrite heart that acts from a loving desire to know and follow the will of God is infinitely pleasing to the Lord, despite the potentially superficial smallness of the deeds in question.
This can be a challenging teaching, especially in the context of a popular culture that emphasizes the pursuit of instantaneous self-gratification, self-promotion, and public recognition above all other things. It’s critical for us to be intentional about being intentional and to be willing to be brutally honest with ourselves about the root motives for our daily undertakings.