Today’s entry uses a well-known phrase, going through the motions. When I was a teenager, it was common to question all traditions. What did this act really signify? Was it actually important to do this ritual, or was it simply something that had “always been done that way,” and had lost its original meaning? Were we just going through the motions?
I remember one youth-led Sunday service in which I lit the candles at the end of the service instead of the beginning, explaining that this was to signify that we were the light of the world, and it was our job to shine forth. I felt like such a wild rebel!
I still believe it is a good idea to examine the meaning behind our traditions and not just go through the motions. But, the message in today’s entry is that our focus should go beyond those traditions. We should be concentrating on what is happening in our hearts and minds and how we should follow through with action.
May 1 on the Pharisees.
I am so glad you focused on our actions, rather than castigating the Pharisees of the text. One scholar calls Matthew 23 "the unloveliest chapter in the Gospel." It unfairly stereotypes the Pharisees and contributes to the stereotyping of Judaism as only interested in external ritual. (I'm doing an adult Sunday school class soon on the Pharisees and how we have unfairly stereotyped them.) So, as you do, we should read this passage and ask ourselves "Do our interior thoughts and feelings match the way we present ourselves in public?"