Some of you are old enough to remember Jim Bakker. Bakker was probably the most well known of a new breed of preacher called the televangelist. These were mostly charismatic individuals who used the medium of television to reach hundreds of thousands of people every week. Most were fairly fundamental in their theology and their preaching tended to be rather fire and brimstone-like raining warnings and admonitions on those committing a variety of sins, but especially directed at those with a proclivity for sexual sin. Bakker, and his wife Tammy Faye, personified this style. That is, until 1987 when he was accused by his secretary of drugging and raping her. He resigned from his ministry and was then found guilty of accounting fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Tony Alamo was a popular fundamentalist preacher in the 1970s. In 2009 he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse, transporting underage girls across state lines for sexual purposes, pedophilia, marrying an 8 year old girl and child rape. He claimed that he was framed by the Vatican.
Now some in the media have tried to pervert the message that these men preached because of the sins of the messenger. No different than what the Catholic Church is experiencing now in the wake of the priest abuse scandal. “Throwing the baby out with the bath water” as the old saying goes. The point, however, is that Bakker and Alamo, along with many other similar preachers, preached one thing and did another. Not only disgracing themselves but the Christian message they spread.
In today’s Gospel we see Jesus addressing the Scribes and Pharisees. The “televangelists” of their day. They were tasked with spreading God’s word of love and mercy, along with the laws seen in the Torah, to the people of Israel. They were called to be servants to the Word. Instead they were primarily focused on using their position to gain places of honor within the culture. Where they sought seats of prominence at public gatherings, Jesus preached that we should humbly assume a lower place than what our perceived station was in life. While the Scribes and Pharisees used their positions to gain wealth, Jesus preached eschewing riches and instead seeking opportunities to serve.
And while Jesus preached forgiveness of sins on the road to unity with God, the Scribes and Pharisees instead lambasted the Jewish people for even the smallest deviation from the law. Placing on them many undue burdens leaving little room for them to experience the saving grace of God’s mercy. This was the yoke the people experienced from the law while Jesus preached a easy yoke due to forgiveness of the sins that we all commit.
In today’s first reading from Ezekiel, the prophet describes his vision of God returning to the temple to wrap it in His glory. This in spite of the evils committed by the Israelites in the past. For example, the palace and the temple were side by side allowing the kings to use the temple to engage in immoral pagan practices. God promised, through Ezekiel, forgiveness to His people upon their return from captivity in Babylon. And this is the message that the Scribes and Pharisees were expected to convey to the Jewish people.
Jesus refers to them as “Blind Guides”. Focused more on appearance than substance. A cup that is washed on the outside but filthy on the inside. Whitewashed tombs holding decaying bones. Straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel. It is in this spirit that Jesus tells His disciples to not call any man Father…or Rabbi…or teacher…or Master. He was not focusing on the titles but on the behavior that many with these monikers were guilty of. Saying one thing but doing something much different. Otherwise, what would we call the husband of your Mother? Or the leader of a synagogue? OR what about a certain priest in the diocese of Joliet, Illinois? Father Burke Masters?
Like the Israelites, we are all repeat sinners. How often do we go to Reconciliation with the same sins? I recently had to go to confession and profess, “Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been TWO DAYS since my last confession.” Confessing a similar misstep that I had confessed two days earlier. Thankfully, I had a different priest than the previous visit! In other words, we do not deserve God’s mercy any more than His chosen people. Or any more than Jim Bakker or Tony Alamo. Or the Scribes and Pharisees. Or the sinner on the cross next to Jesus. Or the Prodigal Son. Or the workers who were hired by the landowner at the end of the day who received the same reward as those he hired that morning,
This is not to say that these sins are not serious. But that is the point isn’t it? That as long as we are truly repentant, God will forgive us of any sin…except denying Him…right until the end of our days.
Here is a clip and song that depicts this exchange between Jesus and a “Pharisee” from the movie “Godspell”
