Jesus Wants Hearts, not Hypocrites
God cares more about what happens on the inside of our lives than what happens on the outside: he wants our hearts.
That's what he's trying to explain to the Pharisees, and to all his disciples, and to us.
It is quite possible to appear perfectly Christian on the outside while being perfectly selfish on the inside.
We can go to Mass regularly, avoid obviously lewd or sinful behavior in public, say prayers so that others will notice - we can do all those things exteriorly while constantly entertaining evil thoughts and self-centered desires in our hearts.
That kind of divided life, which is called hypocrisy, can't last.
As the old saying goes, unless we live according to what we believe, we will soon start believing in accordance with what we live.
Or, as Jesus puts it elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 6:21): where our hearts are, there our treasure is.
True followers of Jesus Christ can never be satisfied with merely exterior piety; we can never consider ourselves superior to others just because our sins are less visible.
That's what the Pharisees did, and it blinded them to God's love; in fact, it tragically turned them into enemies of God.
True religion has exterior manifestations, certainly, but they are meant to flow from and give expression to the experience of the heart.
The heart is the place where we decide for or against our conscience, for or against God's will.
Our friendship with Christ, and the purpose, strength, and vigor that flows out of that friendship, depend on our inner allegiance to him; looking like goody-two-shoes on the outside can never substitute for that.
Jesus doesn't care what we look like to others; he cares about who we really are.
And so, that's what we should care about too.
God cares more about what happens on the inside of our lives than what happens on the outside: he wants our hearts.
That's what he's trying to explain to the Pharisees, and to all his disciples, and to us.
It is quite possible to appear perfectly Christian on the outside while being perfectly selfish on the inside.
We can go to Mass regularly, avoid obviously lewd or sinful behavior in public, say prayers so that others will notice - we can do all those things exteriorly while constantly entertaining evil thoughts and self-centered desires in our hearts.
That kind of divided life, which is called hypocrisy, can't last.
As the old saying goes, unless we live according to what we believe, we will soon start believing in accordance with what we live.
Or, as Jesus puts it elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 6:21): where our hearts are, there our treasure is.
True followers of Jesus Christ can never be satisfied with merely exterior piety; we can never consider ourselves superior to others just because our sins are less visible.
That's what the Pharisees did, and it blinded them to God's love; in fact, it tragically turned them into enemies of God.
True religion has exterior manifestations, certainly, but they are meant to flow from and give expression to the experience of the heart.
The heart is the place where we decide for or against our conscience, for or against God's will.
Our friendship with Christ, and the purpose, strength, and vigor that flows out of that friendship, depend on our inner allegiance to him; looking like goody-two-shoes on the outside can never substitute for that.
Jesus doesn't care what we look like to others; he cares about who we really are.
And so, that's what we should care about too.
