Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 21: 23-27

Today’s Gospel from Mathew presents Jesus being quizzed of his credentials – his authority – to do the things that he had done in the temple. What did Jesus do in the temple? The parallel text in Mark 11 tells the story of Jesus cleansing the temple which infuriated the temple authorities. The Chief priests and elders of the people approached Jesus on the next day and raised this question. “Who do you think you are?” This is how they confront Jesus. “If you have no credentials, get out from here.” Sometimes, our churches and church-run institutions patronise this attitude of the chief priests and elders to overrule the concerns and voices of the faithful. Deep rooted clericalism in the Church and its institutions sometimes turn pastors into dictators and autocrats who wield their “authority” to rule over their faithful, and to suppress disagreeing voices. This is where Pope Francis opens wide the windows of the Church, calling for a synodal Church. the chief priests and elders who questioned Jesus’ authority were hypocrites. They focused only on slavishly following rules and rituals, and criticized those who did not. “By What authority do you do this?” The elders are in effect telling Jesus, “We are the people who are authorised to do things here. The discipline of the temple is untouchable, it is sacred.” Pope Francis compared their attitude to the situation when he was a boy and it was forbidden for anyone to have anything to eat or drink or even accidentally swallow a drop of water while brushing the teeth before receiving Communion. The pope said, as a boy he went to confess that he had received Communion even though he thought a drop of water had gone down” that morning. “Pope Pius XII freed us from that heavy cross of eucharistic fasting,” he said. But when the pope changed the rules, there were people who termed it as heresy! Because he touched the discipline of the church. But Pope Pius had done only what Jesus would have, Pope Francis said. “Pope Pius saw the people suffering, especially when it was hot… But, Many Pharisees in the Church were scandalized. Many.” There are many pharisees around even today, with so rigid a mind-set that refuses God’s mercy and compassion. Sometimes we behave with the pharisaic attitude and refuse to be cleansed of our hypocrisy. We quote the bible and the church-regulations to prove the other wrong. The Gospel invites us to examine how do we exercise authority in our own lives – as parents, teachers, employers, priests, religious or in any capacity where we have some responsibility with regard to others.