March 3, 2026
Tuesday of the Second Week of
Lent
Lectionary: 231
Reading
1
Hear the word of
the LORD,
princes of Sodom!
Listen to the instruction of our God,
people of Gomorrah!
Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.
If you are willing, and obey,
you shall eat the good things of the land;
But if you refuse and resist,
the sword shall consume you:
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and
23
R. (23b) To
the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?"
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Verse
Before the Gospel
Cast away from you
all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel
Jesus spoke to the
crowds and to his disciples, saying,
"The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people's shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'
As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called 'Master';
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030326.cfm
Commentary on Isaiah 1:10,16-20
Today’s reading is
an attack on hypocrisy and a call for humility in the presence of God and in
the presence of our brothers and sisters. The passage is from the very
beginning of Isaiah and is primarily an attack on the people’s hypocrisy—the
same theme as in today’s Gospel.
There are strong
words from Isaiah on his people and their rulers. He calls the leaders of God’s
people “rulers of Sodom” and speaks of the people as “people of Gomorrah”.
Sodom and Gomorrah were the epitome of all that was most evil and repellent to
God. They are classic examples of sinful cities completely destroyed (see Gen
13:13; 18:20-21). And just as Jesus addressed Peter as Satan for blocking God’s
plans, so Isaiah addresses his countrymen as deserving no better than the
corrupt citizens of those wicked cities.
In verses which
are omitted, God, speaking through his prophet, denounces the endless round of
burnt offerings and sacrificial animals.
Bringing offerings
is futile;
incense is an abomination to me…
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen. (Is
1:13,15)
Why? Because “your
hands are full of blood.” There is no relationship between the endless prayers
piously offered and behaviour which is totally unacceptable to God.
But God’s desire
is not to condemn, but instead to call his people to genuine repentance.
Wash
yourselves; make yourselves clean…
And how are they
to do this? By offering still more sacrifices? By going to Confession? By
saying a perfunctory Act of Contrition? No, they are to repent and “seek
justice”; they are to redress the wrongs done to others, and “defend the
orphan; plead for the widow.” In the Jewish society of the time, these were the
weakest and most neglected of people. There could be no real repentance unless
care was taken of the weakest and neediest in society. For us, in Lent, the
message is exactly the same.
And there is hope:
If your sins
are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
Because:
If you are
willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land…
For those who
truly repent (Greek, metanoia)—and this is shown by a radical
change in their behaviour and in the way they act towards the weak and
neglected—total rehabilitation is possible. That is what we hope will be our
experience, too, this Lent.
The choice is
ours, either to submit ourselves to the compassionate way of God and find life,
or go our own rebellious, self-centred way and find death.
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Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12
Today’s Gospel
looks like an attack on the scribes and Pharisees, but we should really see it
as directed towards members of the Christian community, especially its leaders.
Jesus levels two criticisms against the Pharisees:
—they don’t
practise what they preach, and
—they do what they do to attract the admiration of others.
In fact, the words
of Jesus are a warning to all people in authority. Jesus was attacking the
scribes and Pharisees, but his words can be applied to many positions in our
own society. Executives, managers, doctors, lawyers, bishops, priests, civil
servants and parents can all be included here. In so far as they have genuine
authority, they should be listened to—the doctor about things medical, the
lawyer about things legal, the priest about things spiritual and the parents about
family matters.
The Pharisees
tried to impress by wearing wider phylacteries and longer tassels. The
phylacteries were small boxes containing verses of Scripture which were worn on
the left forearm and the forehead. The tassels, worn on the corners of one’s
garment, were prescribed by Mosaic law as a reminder to keep the commandments.
By making each of these items larger, one drew attention to one’s superior
piety and observance. It is not difficult to see parallels in our time.
Unfortunately, it
would be wrong to follow the behaviour of such people, especially when they
become arrogant and domineering, use their authority to draw attention to
themselves and assert their supposedly superior status, or impose burdens on
those ‘below’ them, which they themselves do nothing to alleviate.
Authority is not
for power, but for empowering and enabling. Real authority is a form of
service, not a way of control or domination or a claim to special privileges.
So Jesus has no time for people who insist on being addressed by their formal
titles. Matthew’s attack on the scribes and Pharisees points to similar
weaknesses on the part of church leaders in his time. It is something that
again we may be all too familiar with in our own time:
“Hi, John!”…”Mr
Jacobs to you, if you don’t mind.”
“Hi, Father
Steve!”…”Monsignor McDermott to you.”
As Jesus says,
ultimately we are all brothers and sisters. And elsewhere, he tells us that the
greatest among us is the one who best serves the needs of those around him,
rather than the one who has the most impressive titles, or the biggest desk, or
eats in the executive dining room, or has his/her picture on the cover of a
magazine. Unfortunately, we contribute a lot to this nonsense because some of
us dream of being there ourselves someday.
All who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
The perfect model
is Jesus himself, who:
…though he
existed in the form of God…emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…became
obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him
even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name… (Phil 2:6-9)
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1023g/
Tuesday,
March 3, 2026
Season of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord God,
you want us to live our faith not
so much as a set of rules and practices but as a relationship from person to
person with You and with people.
God, keep our hearts turned to You, that we may live
what we believe and that we may express our love for You in terms of service to
those around us, as Jesus did, Your Son, who lives with You and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 23: 1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,
"The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of
Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do
not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up
heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will
not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They
widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor
at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the
salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one
teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have
but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master,
the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself
will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Reflection
•
Today’s Gospel presents the criticism of Jesus
against the scribes and the Pharisees of His time. At the beginning of the
missionary activity of Jesus, the doctors of Jerusalem went to Galilee to
observe Him (Mk 3: 22; 7: 1). Disturbed by Jesus’ preaching, they had based
their attacks on saying that He was possessed (Mk 3: 22). All along the three
years the popularity of Jesus grew. And at the same time, the conflict between
He and the religious authority also grew. The origin of this conflict was the
way in which they placed themselves before God. The Pharisees sought their own
security, not so much in God’s love toward them, but rather in the rigorous
observance of the Law.
Before this mentality, Jesus insists on the practice of
love which makes the observance of the law relative and gives it its true
significance.
•
Matthew 23: 1-3: The root or origin of the
criticism: They say but they do not do. Jesus recognizes the authority of the
scribes and of the Pharisees. They occupy the chair of Moses and teach the law
of God, but they themselves do not observe what they teach. So Jesus tells
them: You must, therefore, do and observe what they tell you, but do not do as
they do, because they say but do not do! This is a terrible criticism!
Immediately, as in a mirror, Jesus shows some aspects of the incoherence of the
religious authority. Matthew 23: 4-7: Look in the mirror in order to make a
revision of life. Jesus calls the attention of the disciples concerning the
incoherent behavior of some doctors of the Law. In meditating on this
incoherence, it is helpful to think about ourselves and not about the Pharisees
and the scribes of that time already past. They tie up heavy burdens and lay
them on people’s shoulders but will not lift a finger to move them; they do
their works in order to be admired; they love to take the first places and to
be called doctors. The scribes liked to enter into the houses of the widows and
to recite long prayers to receive money in exchange! (Mk 12: 40).
•
Matthew 23: 8-10): You are all brothers. Jesus
orders that we have the contrary attitude. Instead of using the religion and
the community as means for selfpromotion in order to appear more important
before others, He asks not to use the title of Rabbi or Teacher, of Master, Father
and Guide because only one is the guide, Christ; only God in Heaven is Father,
and Jesus is the Master, the Teacher. You are all brothers. This is the basis
of the fraternity which comes from the certainty that God is our Father.
•
Matthew 23: 11-12: The final summary: the
greatest must be the servant. This phrase is what characterizes both the
teaching and the behavior of Jesus: The greatest among you must be your
servant; the one who raises himself up, will be humbled (cfr. Mk 10: 43; Lk 14:
11; 18: 14).
Personal Questions
•
In what does Jesus criticize the Doctors of the
Law and in what does He praise them?
•
In what would He criticize me and in what would
He praise me?
Concluding Prayer
'Honor to me is a sacrifice of thanksgiving; to the upright
I will show God's salvation.' (Ps 50: 23)
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