Mal. 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10; Ps 131:1, 2, 3; 1 Thes. 2:7b-9, 13; Mt. 23:1-12
One God and Father creator of all and one master, the Christ to who we give our glory. All creation points to our God and we are to follow with all our being created in the image of God. As we often hear it said, it is not about us, it’s all about our God. When we are born our first gift of life is the gift of ourselves and what we do with ourselves is our gift back to God. The greatest gift of ourselves we give our God is to grow in spirit and in truth as we die to ourselves for our salvation and that of this world. God calls us into his hands to be his hands, feet, heart, and mind by doing his will. This is the unity prayer of Jesus “that we may all be one” in our God and Father.
The gospel today instructs us to call no one on earth “Rabbi”, “father”, or “Master” for we have but one God, one Father, and one Master. Yet we call our priests “father” so as the expression goes “what’s up with this?” Our separated brothers and sisters in Christ from other denominations like to point to this scripture and question “why do we call a priest father” yet even they refer to their earthly father by this title. The scripture passage says “call no one” and yet we are born of a father and mother and all make at least this one exception so then “what’s up with this?”
Recall that all things are to point to our God and the priesthood is a call to die to oneself to then be “in persona Christi” that is serving God in the person of Christ. Our reference to the priesthood by the title “father” is a recognition of Christ himself who is the one who sanctifies and who we glorify. The priest in the person of Christ makes Christ alive in the sacraments we receive through him. The priesthood is to be God’s servant who dies to himself so that it is no longer him but Christ who works through him as St. Paul claims.
The gospel today is a warning that no one is to be looked at as a god. In Jesus’ time many kings and rulers wanted the people to bow down to them as a “god” and to have no other gods but them. The price of disobedience was death. This is one reason we have so many martyrs from the early church who refused to acknowledge a king as a god. Jesus comes to teach us that he who wishes to be the greatest must be the servant of all and he laid down his life to give testimony of this. The priest is the servant of God to give testimony in living a godly life.
The question for us to consider is who may we be placing as our god above the one God and Father. Does our politics become the god we serve above the church teachings. We see how the state has by its policies created this division in which we must choose between “Ceasar” or God. The state is not the only one seeking to be our god. There is the god of addictions, the god of pornography, even the god of social media where people lay out their lives for attention seeking more “likes” and followers. Does any of this give us the peace of life we seek or is this the cause of why we “break faith with one another”?
I was at a conference and the presenter asked the question “what makes you happy?” The answer for me came quickly, “to be at peace”. Being at peace makes every other experience a gift that adds to the happiness of life regardless if it is a joyful, sad, challenging, “sunny or rainy” day. Being at peace helps us to “let go and let God” trusting in his divine providence so that all things work for his glory. Why are we anxious, fearful, ruminating on all our worries? Where is our peace? It can only come from the God of peace in who we can rest in his peace.
It is the Lord who says, “my peace I give you” and so the psalm reminds us today “In you, Lord, I found my peace.” We have but one God and Father from whom we receive the Son and the Holy Spirit to be the light of our salvation. To God and God alone do we bend our knee in worship. May the peace of the Lord be with us all this day.
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