So
the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did
you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like
this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees
believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the Law, is accursed.”
–John 7:45-49
During the time of Jesus, Judaism was divided up into
different factions or “parties,” such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.
The Pharisees were mainly scholars and theologians who prided themselves on
their knowledge of Jewish ritual Law known as the Torah, which it was their job
to interpret and offer judgment. They were considered the “experts” Yet, for
all their knowledge and learning, in today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees
refuse to believe in the teachings and authority of Jesus because He is not
from their faction.
We can often be modern day Pharisees.
Do we confined our evangelization efforts just to people
with whom we are comfortable with, or with whom we share the same interests? Have
we secretly (or nor so secretly) judged other people because they aren’t coming
to Bible study, or are not as involved at church or don’t understand a
particular aspect of Catholic teaching and decided that they are not as “good”
Catholics as we are or not dedicated enough to being a disciple of Christ? Have we ignored what the shy person in Bible
study who reads softly and slowly has to say, in favor of the guy who can quote
chapter and verse and seems more “learned?”
If we can answer to yes to any
one of these questions (and most of us can), we are guilty of being like the
Pharisees, which we do not want to be. Not only did they completely miss who
Jesus really was, in the end they handed Him over to the Romans to be
crucified. We do not want to miss out on something important God might be
trying to tell us, because it comes from the “wrong” person or group.
Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Patrick.
(Traditionally St. Patrick’s Day is the 17th but since it falls on
Sunday in Lent, the bishop of Savannah has moved the celebration back one day.)
At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken from the coast of his native Wales by
Irish raiders, who sold him as a slave to an Irish chieftain named Milchu.
Patrick spent six years tending Milchu’s sheep, until he was instructed in a
dream to escape from Ireland, a feat he accomplished with a substantial amount
of divine help. Back home in Wales, Patrick felt the call to be ordained and
return to Ireland in order to bring the message of the Gospel to the Irish
people, which he did in 431 A.D. As a former slave, Patrick would have
definitely been the “wrong” person to listen to. In fact, Patrick’s former
master, Milchu, actually sent his house on fire with him in it, to avoid the
disgrace of having his former slave preach to him! Fortunately, many of the
Irish did not follow his example, and instead accepted Patrick’s evangelization
efforts, so that by the saint’s death thirty years later, Ireland was well on
its to becoming a staunchly Catholic country.
God often sends the “wrong” person to deliver a
life-giving message. Don’t be like Milchu. Don’t be a Pharisee. Take time to
listen and prayerfully consider what God might be telling you.
Thomas McIntyre is a 2012 graduate of Georgia Southern
University. He has recently returned to his alma mater to pursue a Master’s
Degree in History, and is in his first semester as a graduate student. In
addition to classical and ecclesiastical history, his interests include
theology, philosophy, dead languages and classic rock music.
