Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
We are expressions of God’s Glory, created with beauty, goodness, and fullness. His glory embraces us, and we who acknowledge God as the source and spring of our own goodness, are filled with this truth and beauty as St. Paul proclaims:
We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Co 3:18).
Transformed grace by grace, we partake of God’s glory not on account of anything we do personally, but on account of what God does directly. He shares Himself freely and faithfully with all his creation. The Psalmist tells us to sing with all of creation the praises of our God:
All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name (Ps 66:4).
St. Paul proclaiming God’s glory contrasts any suffering or sadness as nothing, not worth comparing with the “glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18) for us who endure. In this light, God’s glory, so brilliant and luminance, enlightens our minds to embrace any difficulty or distress. The reward reveals that nothing ought to separate us from the glory of the Lord.
All of creation proclaims God’s glory, but the most spectacular and wonderful expression comes not from creation, but the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection manifests God’s glory. What was so hideous and heinous, the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross, now becomes the most incredible expression of God’s glory. He takes death and makes life. He takes evil and makes good. He takes sin and makes whole. The Lord’s Spirit transforms all that is unglorified turning it into glory, a brilliant reversal of all that is evil and accursed.
Yet the Scriptures speak of vainglory. Instead of letting our light shine before men, giving glory to God for all that He has done for us (Matt 5:16), an inversion takes place. We glorify ourselves, becoming gods that others ought to worship. Instead of God shining his light upon our good deeds done in his name, deeds revealing his glory, we make ourselves the light shining upon ourselves. Instead of acknowledging Christ as the light of the world, I am the light of my world. How vain!
Aquinas defines vainglory as hypocrisy, one who is a pretender—an actor—one who is false and fake. He is a caricature, not a person of character. Hypocrites are obstinate. They will not change, even if exposed corrected of their misdeeds. Hypocrites create discord, an unwillingness to conform our wills to another, especially God’s. Another characteristic of hypocrites is contention. Manipulating, they argue and blame others though claiming they love and forgive. Finally, hypocrites disobey. They cannot and will not serve but exalt themselves, never humbling their pride.
Malachi, God’s prophetic messenger, proclaims a curse against the hypocrites of his day, the Levites, because they fail to give glory to God. In fact, John’s Gospel summarized what Malalchi was prophesying, “They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn 12:43). Corruption and confusion created dissention and division within this priestly clan. They were to glorify God while serving the people. They were to give glory and honor to God through their prayer and sacrifice, yet they stole the offerings of the people for themselves. They offered unclean sacrifices: animals that were blind and lame, not spotless and pure.
They disobeyed the Law of the Moses making it convenient for their designs. Malachi condemns the Levites declaring,
Now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings (Mal 2:1–2).
Powerful words from the Prophet who exposes the shame and sin of the priests who despise God’s name (Mal 1:6), who allow for divorce which the Lord God hates (Mal 2:16), who allow for sorcery, adultery, and slander as well as oppressing the hireling, the widow, and the orphan (Mal 3:5), who steal from God (Mal 3:8) and deny the truth concerning God.
The truth is, God is our father, Who created us (Mal 2:10). He is our master whom we are to fear [obey] (Mal 1:6). To correct the hypocrisy of the priests, God promised through the Malachi’s prophecy that another prophet, a new Elijah (Mal 4:5), would preach out in the wilderness proclaiming:
I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming (Mal 3:1).
Reading these Malachian prophecies create an eerie, ominous truth. Jesus not only fulfills them but in Him, they come true. He repeats them to his disciples and uses them to protect the disciples, including us, from vainglory. Worse, He speaks these truths to the Scribes and Pharisees who claimed to be righteous but were self-righteous. Chastising them, they ought to change their heart. Reading them, we, especially the priests of today, ought to remove any semblance of vainglory from our heart, too.
To correct these priests, including the priesthood of today, Jesus admonishes those who want to be elevated—that is, sit on the seat of Moses, the cathedra (the word from which we get cathedral). Not because the Priests, Scribes and Pharisees authentically taught the Word of God, but because they stole the chair teaching and preaching in their own name, not God’s. The priests, then and today, expect to be called Rabbi, which means the high exalted one, not because they serve the people as did Moses, but because they rule the people with their personal interpretation of the law. Priests seek to be Masters, magisters or teachers, in today’s language have doctorates in theology and philosophy. Not because they sought the truth but want to impose their truth upon the people. Finally, the priests call themselves father, resembling Abraham the Father of our Faith, not because they bring forth life in the minds of their disciples, but they wanted to rule the people with fear, not fatherly love.
Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Levites: the Scribes, Priests, and Pharisees. He exposes the hypocritical priests of today, too. He does so not only with harsh words, but with benevolent love. He, the true Son of the Father, reveals the empathy of God’s fatherly love. He does not exalt Himself above us, rather He humbles Himself becoming one like us. He does not rule over us as a master to his slave, but He enslaves Himself to free us from our slavery to sin. He does not call Himself Rabbi, rather He calls us his friends. He does not take the chair of Moses to dominate but comes to serve and give his life as a ransom.
The power of the Malachi’s prophecy comes not from the curses and condemnations, frightening even the most ardent believer, but from the promise. Those who fear my name, that is those who humble themselves “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall” (Mal 4:2).
We see this prophecy come true in St. Paul. The glory of the Lord humiliated St. Paul, knocking him off his horse. Because of his hypocrisy, Jesus revealed his glory which stunned and blinded him. The bright light, the Glory of the Lord, converted Paul from being vain and inflated to become humble and righteous. Converted, he prays for the Philippians as well as us. He encapsulates the mystery of God’s glory that transformed him which transfigures us in this short prayer:
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Php 1:9–11).
Fear of the Lord, better understood as humility in the sight of God’s glory, reveals God’s graciousness. Only through humility does God’s glory penetrate, for it removes any and all vainglory. Experiencing his glory, which frees us from hypocrisy, we give honor and praise to God. Yet, the honor and praise we give to God, returns upon us for whatever we do that glorifies God, returns and glorifies my soul.