Day 43 Holy Monday

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Matthew 23:23 (From the Gospel of the Bridegroom Service on Holy Monday Evening)

Today, as we continue our journey on Christ’s Passion, we are reminded that Jesus brought a “new message” to those who had “ears to hear”. Time and again in scripture, we see Jesus speaking out about the current rules of the synagogues and how they interpreted the faith of the Old Testament. Today’s scripture passage is a part of a longer passage of the words of Jesus that point out the hypocritical nature of what was taking place at the time of His ministry.

I would imagine the “hypocritical” is not something that we think about very much, especially with regards to our faith. But let’s really think about that for a few moments.

Much has been lamented during this time of isolation and social distancing about the Church, from worrying about the pussy willows that we did not get on Palm Sunday to how are we going to get our Paschal basket blessed. The truth is that many of these things are but rituals, or traditions, of the Church. They certainly aren’t our faith. One could argue that at the first “Palm Sunday”, the bible tells us that people laid down branches of palm trees as Jesus entered Jerusalem, not pussy willows. Of course, in Slavic Orthodox areas, palm trees did not grow, so pussy willows we substituted…and our faith did not change.

Now, we are unable to be physically in the Church so we did not receive the traditional pussy willows. Has our faith changed? No, not one bit. We will not be able to have the Priest sprinkle Holy Water on our Paschal baskets. Will our faith change? Again, no, not one bit. We won’t be able to be in the Church for the Paschal celebration this year. Will our faith change…well, I think you get the idea.

The rituals (traditions) of the Church are there for a reason, they give us structure, consistency and comfort. As Fr. Stavros points out, these things are aids in expressing our faith. I do not in any way mean to demean them. But those things are not our faith; they are not what we believe. And our salvation does not rest on them.

The rulers of the synagogues we caught up in the rules of the Old Testament. The rules had become the faith. Christianity, the message of Jesus, is not so much about rules as it is about love. In fact, Jesus Himself tells us that we have a “new rule”…that we love God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul, and we love our neighbor as ourselves. This rule doesn’t tell us how often we should go to confession or communion. It doesn’t tell us that we shouldn’t lie, judge, have pride or any of the other sins we all are familiar with. This rule assumes that if we truly love God, and we truly love those around us, we will naturally do what is right. We will naturally show mercy, compassion and humility.

Let love guide your journey through Holy Week.

In Christ

Fr. David