Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus seems fiery today, trying to break through facades and speak to what is happening on the inside. “Woe to you hypocrites!” I find myself in the crowd, cheering Jesus on. I take a deep breath and read again, “Woe to you, hypocrite!” “Woe to me.” Like the hypocrites Jesus is speaking to today, I recognize that sometimes I hope to present to those around me that I have it all together; I hope they will not see through me to what is going on internally. I want my faith to be lived in my actions, to be visible to others, not as a show, but as an authentic living of our faith. Too often, though, I grab quick fixes rather than pausing and paying attention to what is really going on internally and doing the work of long-term growth.
I vividly remember the first weeks of my daughter’s sixth-grade school year. Her teacher’s expectations were different; there was more independent organization required on her part. It was a rough start. She was overwhelmed. Our household and our family were a bit of a mess. I went to HomeGoods and loaded my cart with every attractive organizational tool that I thought might help her and us gain some organization and sanity. Years later, as I look back on that weekend, I realize that I was trying to buy our way into interior peace. I was trying to whitewash what was happening inside each of us, to fix it quickly, and if I couldn’t do that, at least make it pretty on the outside. In the process, I contributed to a lot of waste and did not honor the Creator of all that is, God.
One or two items really did help. Sometimes a bit of external change is necessary, but I wish I had paused and noticed that I was trying to fix the externals rather than stay with what was really going on the inside and being present to the changes.
Certainly, in our Christian life, we strive for authenticity, for the Love of God moving in us to be visible to others in the way we treat others and all God’s creation. The reality is we all fall short. Prayerfully listening can help align the internal and the external. It can help us discern which spirits are moving in us and how the Holy Spirit wants to move in us and through us in the world.
We can help one another in this discernment. Rarely do we need (or respond well to) a fellow Christian echoing Jesus today, “Woe to you, hypocrite!” But we could all benefit from accompanying one another in simple ways - noticing and pausing or asking gentle questions. “Wow, that’s a full cart!” may be enough to prompt a story of what is happening in someone’s life and prompt the person to look at the interior. Encounters of genuine curiosity can also prompt us to remember the meaning of the helpful externals and call us back to our aspirational selves: “Tell me about your precocious medal.”
In personal prayer and in discerning conversation with one another, we can accompany one another in the life of faith, moving beyond facades and living our faith authentically, aligning what we say we believe with all that we do. This is the gift of walking together in faith, the gift of Christian community.
— Kelly Adamson