Comfort and Criticism

Homily for Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Abraham Heschel, a Polish Jewish theologian, once wrote: “The true prophet is not someone we would invite to dinner a second time.” If his statement is true, we can probably identify Jesus as a true prophet after reading today’s Gospel text.

While much of what Jesus says gives comfort and encouragement, his words are also often filled with nettles, full of criticism and challenge. Most of us cannot appreciate a steady diet of criticism. Even our closest friends must criticize us gingerly and only after finding the right moment. Even if the criticism is considered constructive, most of us would rather suffer a bee sting rather than criticism.

In today’s first reading, St. Paul criticizes people who suppress the truth through their own evilness. They fail to recognize God because they have created their own personal god in their own minds. He wrote: “While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.” This remark seems to be directed especially to the gods of Egypt, but it is also directed toward the various neighbors of Israel who have erected temples to false gods. They worshiped the creature rather than the creator.

In the reading from St. Luke’s Gospel which we proclaim today, Jesus criticizes the host who has invited him to dine in his home. The Pharisee notices that Jesus does not perform the prescribed ablutions before eating. In doing so, he elevates a custom to the level of a commandment. This particular Pharisee is the very picture of a person who has suppressed the truth and substituted something that is merely a customary action. He does exactly what St. Paul writes about in his Letter to the Romans.

However, we must also admit that criticism can often lead to personal growth. It is good to be shaken up, good to have our behavior and thought questioned, and good to have our comfort and satisfaction disturbed. If our faults are never pointed out to us, we will never grow into the kind of people who St. Paul praises when he says: “The one who is righteous by faith will live.” We cannot restrict ourselves to those parts of the Gospel which offer us comfort. We must also embrace the challenges that Jesus lays down before us as the path that will lead us to life with God forever.