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@ Scripture&Serenity
2024-08-28 07:03:19
Wed, 21st Week in Ordinary Time_ _Matthew 23:27-32_
**I**t is clear from today’s first reading that Paul was anxious not to be a financial burden on the young church in Thessalonica, ‘_We worked night and day, slaving and straining, so as not to be a burden on any of you’_. It was Paul’s policy to earn his keep by working at his trade as a tentmaker, so as to be able to preach the gospel free of charge. Paul is also concerned about some members of the church becoming an unnecessary financial burden on the community, when, in reality, they were well capable of working to support themselves. Elsewhere in his letters Paul says to the members of the church to ‘_bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ’_ (Gal 6:2), which is the law of love. We are called to help to carry the burden of others, while not becoming an unnecessary burden on others.
**I**n the gospel reading, Jesus highlights one way people can become a burden on others, namely, when they give the appearance of ‘_good honest people’_ but, in reality, are full of ‘_hypocrisy and lawlessness_’. Elsewhere, Jesus uses the image of wolves in sheep’s clothing. We would all find such people burdensome, as we try to discern whether or not to rely on them and believe what they tell us.
**A**t the end of the first reading, Paul writes his name in his own handwriting as a ‘_mark of genuineness’_. The genuine person is never a burden. Their honesty and truthfulness, their transparency and lack of deceit, is burden lifting rather than burden imposing. Jesus was the supremely genuine person; he revealed God’s truth to the full. He offered himself as the one who can lift our burdens, ‘_Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens’._ He wishes to continue this burden lifting work as risen Lord in and through each one of us.