Homily: August 30,2023, Wednesday of the twentyfirst sunday in Ordinary time (Holy Anger)

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Preached at Holy Family Catholic School Des Moines.  

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.”

Wow. Did Jesus really say these harsh words? He seems very angry. Why? 

Since I was little, till now, I have been fearful of aggressive people. I would usually steer clear of them. If Jesus were to say those words to me angrily, I would have tried to keep a distance from Him. But Jesus’ anger is always reasonable.

My mom used to get very angry with me too, because I was very mischievous and created lots of trouble. Although she was very frightening in those moments and I would always run far away from her, I would also always return, because I knew she would calm down. I knew she loved me.

We know that Jesus is the most compassionate and loving person. He could forgive the worst sinners and showed gentle kindness towards them. He fed, loved and healed people with the worst diseases and never avoided them. He even befriended those who were despised and hated by society.

So, how could such a loving and gentle person become so angry? What made Jesus so upset with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes?

It was because of their terrible and evil sins, two of which were unbearable to Jesus, which triggered His righteous indignation or holy anger. The sins of pride and hypocrisy.

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were knowledgeable of scripture, had power to protect and defend God’s people and authority, with duty and responsibility to lead and guide the people in the correct path, instead, they abused all these blessings and were overly prideful, considered themselves greatly superior over everyone else and treated others as inferior, lacking compassion and mercy.

Secondly, they projected an outward appearance of being prayerful, faithful and holy, thus demanding respect, honor and undue advantages, but in their hearts, they were cruel, selfish and unfair. They lived a big lie, they were faking their faith, they lived a double life. God can see through their pretenses and scams.

Jesus cannot compromise the truth, He does not appreciate and very much detests these sins: pride and hypocrisy. These vices have no place in the Kingdom of God.

Truth encompasses authenticity, sincerity and honesty.

Faith assumes obedience, humility and holy fear.

All that we have, the blessings that we have received, the power, authority and positions that we think we have achieved, did not happen without God’s graces.

Let us never be prideful nor live as hypocrites. God sees, God knows, and God does anger if we indulge in such sins. Let us always be thankful and sincere, humble and authentic. Amen.


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