Group 3

Matthew 23: 23-28

“²³Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You pay tithes on mint and herbs and seeds while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and good faith. It is these you should have practiced, without neglecting others. ² Blind guides! You strain out the gnat ⁴and swallow the camel! ² Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, ⁵you frauds! You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, and leave the inside filled with loot and lust! ² Blind Pharisee! ⁶First cleanse the inside of the cup so that its outside may be clean. ² Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You ⁷are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful to look at the outside but inside full of filth and dead man’s bones. ² Thus, you ⁸present to view a holy exterior while hypocrisy and evil fill you within”.

This reading is one of the discourses of Jesus denouncing the fraud and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He indicted the Pharisees for their pride and their love for money which nullified all that they taught and preached. It was their pride and avarice that closed their hearts to the cries of the poor. They who separate themselves from the poor and the sinners separate themselves from the mercy of God.

Verse 23-24 (fourth Woe) This woe attacked the teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees. The question at issue was what forms of produce came under the law of tithing. Jesus does not object to the submission to the law, but he objects to the intense interest shown in trivial matters while the more important issues at justice, mercy and fidelity are ignored and neglected.

The final touch of ridicule was the example of straining the gat and swallowing the camel. These examples are hyperbolic criticism of he consuming interest of the Pharisees in details to the point of being ridiculous, while failing to ask the more basic and important questions: Is this fair? Is this decent? Is this just?

Verse 25-26 (fifth woe) This woe attacked the superficiality of the pharisaic devotion to cleanliness bordering on fanaticism. Jesus metamorphically used the vessels to represent persons. This woe was directed at the care for external correctness in observance, without regard for the interior disposition and spirit.

Verse 27-28 (sixth woe) The whitewashing of tombs was a common practice to identify the tombs and ward off those who might otherwise touch them accidentally, since contact with the dead for the Jews caused Levitical uncleanliness. Jesus criticized the observance of the law of which the Pharisees boasted, which was nothing but a cloak hiding a life that was lived in complete contradiction to the law.

Jesus vehemently attacked the Jewish authorities, the Pharisees and the Scribes for all their lies, their hypocrisy, their scorn and abuse of the poor and the powerless, while they boasted of their moral righteousness.

Jesus reminds us of a power greater than the force of control and authority-peace: “Peace I bestow to you, my own peace I give to you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you” (John 14:27). The peace “the world” confers is not lasting since it is often based on the fragile foundations of political compromise.

The peace that Jesus offers comes through genuine dialogue, one that is justice-based. Often in conflict there is much talk but little communication, little dialogue. True dialogue demands seeing the other as an equal, as worthy of being heard, and as capable of intelligent response. Peace therefore , is inextricably bound to search fir justice, Unless the powerful ones commit themselves to securing a more just global order, injustice and absence of peace will be the scorn of the oppressed and alienated.

Justice is the first demand of love. It is the necessary condition of an authentic love of neighbor. This means that if we truly love others, we must first of all respect their basic human rights and give what is due to them.

Justice is the praxis of love. It is the practical expression of love in a world of limited resources. Thus, love cannot be reduced to “charity”, which, for many, means only discarding things for which they have no more use and giving them to the poor.

Justice needs the deeper power of love and mercy which gives the pursuit of justice a human face and heart. Only when we feel true and deep compassion for those in great need are we moved to struggle so that their human rights may be protected. Justice is not separate from love and mercy which bear fruit in peace.

The disposition to justice has three interrelated aspects.

Personal Justice – this aspect is a virtue in itself. It is good habit developed in individuals by their own efforts. A person who possesses this virtue tends to be just in all his/her dealings with others, regardless of the presence or absence of justice in others. Personal justice is a lifestyle.

It disposes persons to respect the rights of others at all times so they will not hurt anybody at anytime.

Commutative Justice – This is an observance of a fair exchange between two individuals that creates a relationship. It requires an exact equality between the value of what is taken from another and the value of what is given to him/her in return. This respect of justice governs all contractual relationships, implicit or explicit. It is a justice in its most simple direct “an-eye-for-an-eye” mentality. This form of justice is often enforced by civil and/or moral law.

Social Justice – This justice is based on a pattern of custom or law developed by a society or institution for the common good. It is enforced by the civil laws applied by the civil authorities to all individuals under their jurisdiction without partiality. Social justice has two aspects, the legal and the distributive.

A. Legal justice takes place when the civil law exacts from individuals their debts to society. Those who are suspected are penalized.

B. Distributive justice takes place when the law ensures for all

individuals equal share in the society’s benefits and burdens. Christian Justice – This is the complete type of justice

which results in peace-the justice of the Christian heart. Its basics, wise, clear and comprehensible principle is expressed in the Gospel by the words: “Treat others the way you would have them treat you” (Matthew 7:12). This is the new law of Christian love. And even if people will sin against you, seek justice in peace. As St. John of Kronstadt once said, “Sins are sins, but the basis in the person is God’s image; therefore, hate sin but love the sinner,” Furthermore, Pope John Paul II says: “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness.”