The Gospel Reading for today's Bridegroom Matins service (Matthew 22:15-46; 23:1-39) shows Jesus condemning the scribes and Pharisees of a long list of sins. Archimandrite Papavassillou reminds us in his book 'Meditations for Holy Week' that this isn't directed solely on the Pharisees. These sins are found in us today. Are we so different than the Pharisees? Are we free from these sins? Let us repent of our sins so that we are found ready for the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have included a snippet of his book here.
"We may be tempted to think, "If I had been alive at the time of Jesus, "I would have been one of His followers, not one of His condemners." But can we be so sure? We often praise saints who lived hundreds of years ago for their austerity, their love of the poor, their condemnation of wealth and worldly pleasures. But when people of our own day condemn sin, we accuse them of being fanatics...when they discourage worldly ways, we mock them as pastorally insensitive, unsociable, backward, and naive. It is easy to praise the words of saints we have never met when we think their rebukes were aimed at others, but when someone here and now points out our own sins, it's a whole other sotry.
The sad truth that this litany of woes invites us to face up to is this: I am a Pharisee! For we Christians are often guilty of the religious hypocrisy our Lord condemns...Only when we cast off the linkers of pride that blind us to the fact that we are the cold-hearted and self-righteous hypocrites of the Gospels, whom we so relish mocking and condemning, will we be able to recognize as Lord and God Him who is "gentle and lowly of heart" (Matt.11:29). Only then can we proclaim, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matt. 23:39)."
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