God sure does not like arrogant pride of the humans. He despised the prideful Edomites (Malachi 1:1-5). The punishment of Edom for the Edomites’ pride and disobedience is addressed in the Book of Obadiah (1-21). As to juxtapose the judgement on Edom (Malachi 1:1-5), God also warns the unfaithfulness of the priests of His judgement on them (Malachi 1:6-2:9) and that of the Israelites at large (Malachi 2:10-3:24). Malachi’s prophecy of God’s judgement on the unfaithfulness reminds that our pride makes us drift from the faithfulness, turning the object of praise and honor from God to ourselves.
God certainly despises the priests who are pretentious
but fail to fulfill their priestly duties in His honor (Malachi 1:6-14). Then,
He admonishes the priests for their violation of the covenant and vows to press
His judgement on them (Malachi 2:1-9).
The judgement will put the priests in humiliation for they have failed
to honor God and minister to people (Malachi 2:8-9), and it was obviously
because of their lack of humility. The First Reading (Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10)
is drawn from this context.
So God speaks against the unfaithful priests:
You
should know that I sent you this commandment so that my covenant with Levi
might endure, says the Lord of hosts.
My
covenant with him was the life and peace which I gave him, and the fear he had
for me, standing in awe of my name.
Reliable
instruction was in his mouth, no perversity was found upon his lips;
He
walked with me in integrity and uprightness and turned many away from evil.
For
a priest’s lips preserve knowledge, and instruction is to be sought from his
mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
But
you have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to stumble by your
instruction;
You
have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.
I,
therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people,
For
you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction.
Have
we not all one father? Has not one God created us?
Why,
then, do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our
ancestors? (Malachi
2:4-10).
These words of God are echoed by the following in
Isaiah:
Trust
in the Lord forever!
For
the Lord is an eternal Rock.
He
humbles those who dwell on high, the lofty city he brings down,
Brings
it down to the ground, levels it to the dust.
The
feet of the needy trample on it—the feet of the poor.
The
way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level.
The
course of your judgments, Lord, we await; your name and your memory are the
desire of our souls.
My
soul yearns for you at night, yes, my spirit within me seeks you at dawn;
When
your judgment comes upon the earth, the world’s inhabitants learn justice.
The
wicked, when spared, do not learn justice; in an upright land they act
perversely, and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
Lord,
your hand is raised high, but they do not perceive it;
Let
them be put to shame when they see your zeal for your people: let the fire
prepared for your enemies consume them.
Lord,
you will decree peace for us, for you have accomplished all we have done
(Isaiah 26:4-11).
Those who lack humility tend to be envy of God and
likely to abuse their leadership positions to honor themselves, instead of God,
while not leading people as commissioned, because of their pride. They neglect
to honor God and to minister to the needs of people because of their pride,
which makes them blind to God and His people. And these prideful leaders shall
receive their due judgement.
This is reiterated by Jesus’ warning that those who
exalt themselves will be humbled by God, while those who remain humble and
faithful shall be exalted by God (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11). And this is what
is reflected in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 23:1-12).
Upon rebuking the leaders, including the priests, the
Pharisees, and the scribes, upon cleansing the Temple, leaving (Matthew
21:12-22:46), Jesus now speaks to the general public against arrogance of pride
and judgement against the sin of pride, leading to lamentation (Matthew
23:1-39).
First, Jesus warned the public:
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
(Matthew 23:2-3).
The chair of Moses means the leadership position to
teach the Torah (Law). And the
scribes and the Pharisees were meant to teach the Torah correctly and faithfully. But, just as the priests addressed
in Malachi (1:6-2:9), who were arrogant like the Edomites (Malachi 1:1-5), they
abuse their position (the chair of Moses) for their own selfish benefits, while
leaving people in unnecessary legalistic burden. So, Jesus criticizes them for
their hypocrisy, which stemmed from their pride, and warned the public not to
be like them:
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 Messiah
(Matthew 23:4-10).
Jesus’ rebuke of the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees, resulting in imposing heavy unnecessary legal burden on people (v.4) reflects his earlier criticism on the Pharisees, citing Isaiah 29:13:
Why
do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
For
God said, “Honor your father and your mother,” and “Whoever curses father or
mother shall die.” But you say, “‘Whoever says to father or mother’, ‘Any
support you might have had from me is dedicated to God,’ need not honor his
father.” You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: “This people honors me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me, in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts” (Matthew 15:3-9).
The sin of the scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus
sharply accuses is that they honor themselves at the expenses of the people
whom they help understand and observe the Torah
correctly.
Then, Jesus reminded that God’s judgement will
humiliate those who are arrogant and have honored themselves, instead of God
and at the cost of the people, and exalt those who keep the faith and remain
humble:
Whoever
exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted
(Matthew 23:12).
Upon this, Jesus issues seven woes against the
Pharisees (Matthew 23:13-36), as to reiterate the warning of the judgement
against unfaithful priests (Malachi 1:14-2:9).
The fact that Jesus spoke against selfish hypocrisy
due to a lack of humility to the general public means that it is not just the leaders,
such as the scribes and the Pharisees, as well as, the priests, but also any of
us can become prideful and arrogant if we lose humility. And a lack of humility
means a lack of faith, because it is through faith that we receive grace from
God (Romans 5:2), and the grace keeps us humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6).
In the Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13), we
see the humility in Paul’s pastoral ministry. Paul and his associates are not
arrogant and selfish but they are gentle and caring to those whom they minister,
in bringing the Gospel of God (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). For this, they do no
mind working harder to make sure that their teaching on Christ never become a
burden to them (1 Thessalonians 2:9). Because of humility, Paul and his
associates do not take credit to themselves for being able to have people
receive the Word of God, but thank God for the grace to enable to do so (1 Thessalonians
2:13). What a contrast there is between Paul’s ministry work to the
Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:1-16) and the hypocritical ministries of the
scribes and the Pharisees rebuked by Jesus (Matthew 23:13-33) and the unfaithful
priests subject to God’s due judgement (Malachi 1:14-2:9).
Finally, being humble means to submit ourselves to God
(James 4:7-10). This way, we find peace in Him, as reflected in the
Responsorial Psalm (131:1, 2, 3).
When our own will takes its own course, deviating from
God’s will on us, however, we risk ourselves to engage in ministries, not to
honor God but to honor ourselves in the name of God.
Humility is an absolute condition to serve as a leader
not only in the Church but in any community and organization.
St. Augustine advised a young ambitious man,
Dioscorus, who seemed to be proud to adhere himself to Stoicism:
My Dioscorus, I desire you to submit
yourself with unreserved piety, and I wish you to prepare for yourself no other
way of seizing and holding the truth than that which has been prepared by Him
who, as God, saw the weakness of our goings. In that way the first part is
humility; the second, humility; the third, humility: and this I would continue
to repeat as often as you might ask direction, not that there are no other
instructions which may be given, but because, unless humility precede,
accompany, and follow every good action which we perform, being at once the
object which we keep before our eyes, the support to which we cling, and the
monitor by which we are restrained, pride wrests wholly from our hand any good
work on which we are congratulating ourselves (Letter 118.22).
The above advice of St. Augustine is also for us, as
Jesus’ discourse on humility was addressed to the general public (Matthew
23:1-12).
Now we must ask ourselves honestly:
What is our true motive to serve God and others in His
name?
How do we know if we are humble or not?
What keeps us humble?
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