“Being ready to wipe away stains of hypocrisy and corruption from the windows of our lives!”

(Based on Rom 1:16-25 and Lk 11:37-41 – Tuesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1)

A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood.

The next morning while they were having their breakfast, the woman saw her neighbour hanging some clothes to dry.

“That laundry is not very clean,” she said.
“She doesn’t know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.”

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbour hung clothes to dry, the young woman repeated her observations about the dirty laundry.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line…
… and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”

The husband said:
“I got up early this morning…
… and cleaned our windows!”

All the while, the woman had been making critical and disparaging remarks…
… while her own windows had “the stains of hypocrisy and corruption!”

So often, we too are extra vigilant and watchful when it comes to judging others…
… while we allow excuses and justifications to all our misdeeds and wrongdoings

“Are we ready to wipe away the stains of hypocrisy and corruption from the windows of our lives?”

The Gospel of the Day is a powerful lesson to have the courage to challenge the ways of insincerity and corruption…
… and to live in genuineness.

A Pharisee invited Jesus to have a meal in his house.

We are unsure of the motives or the reason for this Pharisee to invite Jesus for the table sharing.

Maybe he just wanted to grow in his friendship with Jesus…
Maybe he wanted to check how this great preacher would conduct himself in his house…
Maybe he wanted to show off to his friends of having invited a great Rabbi to his house…
Maybe he wanted to harm the ministry of Jesus and trap Him in doing some aberrations…

In any case, the Pharisee certainly expected Jesus to follow the rules and customs of the traditional Jewish meal.

But he notices that Jesus has failed to wash his hands before dinner.

This washing of the hands was a ritual purification process.

The insistence on this act was not for the sake of hygiene, but for ritual purity!

This omission of the sacred tradition came as a big shocker for the host Pharisee.

He would have thought about Jesus: “This Rabbi is doing it all wrong!

Why can’t He follow our age-old customs?
He is insulting me before my other guests!
How dare He behaves so, in my own house!?”

But this is where Jesus, in His unique style of courage & conviction comes into confrontation with the attitude of the Pharisee…

The Pharisee was surely His host…
… yet Jesus dares ‘to have the courage to challenge the ways of insincerity and corruption…’

Standing up for convictions and principles was a value that Jesus always upheld.

Being bold to always promote and defend goodness was a virtue that Jesus always supported.

Jesus lashes out with a righteous anger, “So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves, you are full of greed and evil. Fools…!” (Lk 11: 39)

The Pharisee got offended because Jesus failed to wash his hands before meal.

But Jesus got offended because they failed to have a true cleansing of their hearts.

The Pharisee got upset because Jesus failed to uphold the sacred tradition.

But Jesus got upset because they failed to uphold the values of inner purity and holiness.

The Pharisee felt insulted because Jesus failed to honour their customs and practices.

But Jesus felt insulted because the table-meal failed to reflect true love and sharing.

Jesus was not afraid to encounter the Pharisee in his wrong thinking.

And today He encounters us and challenges us to ‘live in genuineness’

Maybe we are bold in being relaxed in some of our comfort and pleasure zones..

But Jesus exhorts us to renew our lives, with a life of holiness and purity.

Maybe we are quite okay with aspiring for many gadgets and objects of passing joys and desires

But Jesus urges us to focus on the real necessities of a good life.

Maybe we are satisfied to beautify our external life, even if it means being greedy and selfish

But Jesus spurs us to repent, by living a self-sacrificing and a self-controlling life.

The ‘fang of Pharisaism’ is deep rooted in many of our personal lives, our family lives and in our community lives…

Having focus only on external factors, but neglecting the inner dimensions
Giving importance to only outer shows, but totally forgetting the internal aspects
Being obsessed with doing many things, but totally ignoring the necessity of being holy

The Lord today reminds us that often we are extra vigilant and watchful when it comes to judging others…
… while we allow excuses and justifications to all our misdeeds and wrongdoings

“Are we ready to wipe away the stains of hypocrisy and corruption from the windows of our lives?”

God Bless! Live Jesus!

— Fr Jijo Jose Manjackal MSFS
Rome, Italy
Email: reflectioncapsules@gmail.com

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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
MAN’S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT – GOD’S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE – The Fifth Commandment – Respect for human life

Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely.
Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions.
Blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out.
Thus the extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority must be condemned as a mortal sin.

One is morally bound to resist orders that command genocide. (CCC # 2313)