Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Matthew 23:13-22 - Thứ Hai Tuần 21 TN

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần 21 TN; Matthew 23:13-22 -

Tất cả mọi thứ không phải là thật sự, thấy được, rờ mó được, thì những thứ đó thuộc về thể loại ảo tưởng. Và khi chúng ta đang ở trong một trạng thái ảo giác, chúng ta không sống thực với cuộc sống hiện tại. Chúng ta phải thực tế với Thiên Chúa, với người khác và với chính chúng ta đó là lời mời gọi của Chúa Kitô đang mời gọi chúng ta trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, khi Chúa chỉ trích những người Biệt Phái về một số tội danh, Những tội mà thường được gọi như là già hình hay đạo đức giả và lừa gặt những người quê mùa, chất phát. Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta nhìn thấy tất cả mọi thứ trong bản chất con người của chúng ta và trong tất cả mọi thứ, mọi việc chúng ta làm. Chúa thách thức chúng ta không sống vời sự hời hợt không thật lòng, không nên giống như những người biệt phái, những người chỉ nhìn biết nhìn vào những điều bề ngoài và sống với cuộc sống một cách tầm thường.

Cuộc sống của họ giống như một củ hành, những cũ hành dù có to, có lớn nhưng nó cũng chỉ có những lớp vỏ dầy, khi lột bỏ tất cả các lớp vỏ đó đi, thì trong lòng củ hành chẳng còn gì cả, trống rỗng không thôi vì nó không có lõi. Chúa Giêsu không kêu gọi chúng ta sống một cuộc sống như thế, như một củ hành cỏ lớp vỏ đẹp với màu sắc bóng lẫy mà không có một cốt lõi, nhưng Chúa mời gọi chúng ta nen sống một cuộc sống thật, một cuộc sống hoàn toàn Kitô giáo, bắt nguồn từ trong cốt lõi của nó đó là Thiên Chúa Ba Ngôi, Thiên Chúa đầy yêu thương, Thiên Chúa là Thiên Chúa thật, và hằng hữu.

Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin Chúa ban cho chúng ta những ân sủng và hồng ân của Chúa để chúng con biết sống một cuộc sống thực sự biết hướng về Chúa, hướng về những người chung quanh và hướng về chính bản thân chúng con nữa. Xin Chúa nhẹ nhàng lấy đi những cách sống dang làm cho con người chúng con phải nghẹt thở.

Suy Niệm Bài đọc thứ Hai tuần thứ 21 Thường Niên.

Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay Chúa Giêsu quở trách các thầy thông giáo và người Pharisêu bằng chữ “khốn nạn thay” cho họ và tai họa sẽ đến trên họ. Trong truyền thống Do Thái, khi dùng chữ "Khốn nạn thay" là để chỉ cho một biểu hiện của sự đau buồn hay nỗi khốn khổ ở trạng thái quá nghèo khó trong cuộc sống của họ và những hậu quả rất xấu mà họ sẽ tiếp tục phải gánh chịu.

Trong số những tai ương khốn nạn bao gồm những cáo buộc mà Chúa Giêsu đã cho rằng các thầy thông giáo và người Pharisêu đã ngăn chặn những người khác muốn theo Chúa và để được vào Nước Trời của Thiên Chúa, Họ là những người đang làm tổn hại đến đời sống tinh thần của những người đang trở lại đạo Do Thái, Đạo của những người thờ phượng Thiên Chúa mà thôi, Họ đã đổi những lời thề trên những sự thiêng liêng đối với những thứ vật ít quan trọng hơn, Họ đã bỏ qua những mối quan tâm cấp bách nhất của luật Chúa, Mà chỉ biết quan tâm về những thứ bề ngoài chứ không chịu thay đổi những gì trong tâm hồn họ. Chúa Giêsu cảnh báo họ rằng hành động của họ sẽ có những tác động tiêu cực trong tương lai.

Có lẽ, hôm nay là thời điểm tốt để chúng ta tự hỏi mình. Chúng ta đã đưa mọi người đến gần Thiên Chúa chưa, hay chúng ta đang làm sự cản trở họ bằng những lời nói, bằng những hành động thường ngày của chúng ta? Lạy Chúa, xin giúp chúng con biết can đảm để thay đổi cách sống ích kỷ của chúng con và giúp chúng biết mở rộng tâm hồn để đón nhận, giúp đỡ và hứng dẫn những người khác biết tìm đến Chúa và sự sống đời trên Thiên Đàng bằng những lời nói chân tình, thong cảm, bang cách sống biết thương yêu, biết chia sẽ những gì chúng con có cho nhưng người khác, những người kém may mắn… để vì những việc chúng con làm mà những người khác có thể nhận ra Chúa.

Wau- Meditation: Matthew 23:13-22- 21st Week in Ordinary Time

“You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance.” (Matthew 23:13)

Jesus accused these Pharisees of shutting the door of heaven in people’s faces. That’s a startling allegation. But how did they do it? Some burdened people with stringent rules. Some missed the heart of love embedded in the laws Law of Moses. Others tried to steer people away from Jesus by their teaching. But let’s try to look at this from the other way around. After all, if you can close and lock a door, it stands to reason that you can also unlatch one and throw it wide! That’s the awesome truth tucked away in today’s Gospel. We can actually open the door of heaven for other people!

According to the Scriptures, this door is a person: Jesus! He is the “gate” and the “way” (John 10:9; 14:6). He is the ladder to heaven (1:51). But how can we, small humans that we are, open such a special door? By opening ourselves up! That way, people can come to see Jesus, who lives in us, and find their own way to a relationship with him.

Just as there are several ways to close a door, there’s more than one way to open it. We can open it through acts of kindness and love. We can try to encourage someone. A forgiving, compassionate heart can do it. Or we can look for opportunities to share about the difference that Jesus has made in our lives.

Jesus said that these Pharisees went to great lengths—even traversing sea and land—to find other people and train them in their ways (Matthew 23:15). While he frowned on the end result, the way they went the extra mile to win people over was remarkable. It worked! Similarly, if we want to usher people through heaven’s door, we too will have to go out of our way to build relationships with them. Friendly phone conversations, casual lunches, and the like can provide new opportunities to open up. Of course, we can’t pursue everyone. But we can pursue a few. You could even start with a list of three names. With some prayer, some planning, and some reaching out, you may even get the privilege of holding heaven’s door open as a friend walks through!

“Lord, is there someone for whom you’re asking me to hold open heaven’s door?”

REFLECTION

In the Gospel reading, Jesus places primary importance in our faith in God. We forget God at times. Jesus reminds us that religion and religious practices do not make things sacred; it is God who gives meaning to and makes sacred religion and religious practices.

It is so easy to get caught up in rituals and religious practices, as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were: we should not forget that it is God who is the center and meaning of rituals and religious practices. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law paraded their practice of religion and rituals: Jesus condemned them and reminded them that it was love of God and concern for his honor and glory which were of utmost importance. Jesus reminded them that their duty was to lighten and not to make life more difficult for their followers.

How are we in the rituals and religious practices of our faith? Do we understand and appreciate them as mere instruments to honor and serve God?

Encountering Christ:

· “Woe to You, Scribes and Pharisees”: Jesus's words were directed to a very specific audience—those who were called to be leaders of the Jewish faith. He called them hypocrites, which means they seemed to have the virtues, moral, and religious beliefs of someone who witnesses to God, yet their private lives were in direct opposition to what they publicly professed. None of us wish to live our lives this way, especially those in leadership within our families and communities, and in the church. So Christ invites us to look deeply into our hearts to see what might cloud our view or create a divide between our public and private lives.

· Do I Lock Myself Out of the Kingdom?: For anyone striving to love God and bring others to him, these are challenging words from Jesus. They move us to look into our hearts and see if we are truly seeking the kingdom of heaven and allowing others to experience that kingdom through us. The kingdom Christ preaches is one of love, mercy, goodness, and truth. It is a kingdom where we are free and confident in the grace and love that he pours into us. Do we inadvertently lock that kingdom away? We can ask ourselves: Do I know the King in his goodness, truth, and beauty? Do I take time to enter the kingdom through the humble gateway of prayer, so that I can truly point others toward the kingdom and allow them to see Christ through the way I love and treat others?

· Am I Leading Others to Christ?: Jesus accused the Jewish leaders of going to great lengths to bring their flock to conversion, only to lead them away instead. That could happen in our own lives. It is hard to bring people to experience the kingdom if our own hearts and minds are far from living in the goodness, truth, and beauty of God’s love. Only when we spend time with the King and allow his person and goodness to penetrate our hearts, is our witness compelling. Many times serving others, we get so busy that we begin to neglect to spend time with the One who loves us and unites us to himself. Yet prayer is always the true source of “success” in our lives.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, help me to search my heart in your loving presence. I know that if you want to show me an area in my life that is blocking my way to you, you will give me the clarity and grace to reopen that path to your kingdom. You long to live with me, and be a part of every area of my life. Your friendship calls me higher. I want to experience your friendship more, so that I can truly bring others to you.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take a brief moment to reflect on how I prioritize my relationship with you in my life.

Meditation:

When God knocks on your door are you ready to answer and receive him (Revelations 3:20)? God offers each of us an open door to his kingdom, but we can shut ourselves out if we reject his offer. What is the door to the kingdom of heaven? When Jacob fled from his brother Essau, who wanted to kill him for stealing his birthright (Genesis 27:41), Jacob sought refuge in the wilderness. There God pursued him and gave him a vision that both changed his life and the life of his people. As Jacob slept on a star-lit hillside God showed him a great ladder or stairway that extended from earth to heaven. This stairway was filled with a multitude of angels ascending and descending before the throne of God. God opened heaven to Jacob, not only to give him a place of refuge and peace, but to offer him the blessing of dwelling in intimate friendship with the living God. God spoke to Jacob and renewed the promises which he had made to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, and now to Jacob and his posterity. God promised not only to bless and protect Jacob, but to make him and his descendants a blessing to all the nations as well. When Jacob awoke he exclaimed: "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17). God opened a door for Jacob that brought him and his people into a new relationship with the living God.

Jesus proclaimed to his disciples that he would fulfill the dream of Jacob in his very own person: "You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John 1:51). Jesus proclaimed that he is the door (John 10:8-9) and the way (John 14:6) that makes it possible for us to access heaven and God's very throne. But Jesus woefully warned the religious leaders and successors of Jacob that they were shutting the door of God's kingdom not only on themselves but on others as well. The word woe expresses sorrowful pity and concern as well as grief and extreme sadness.

Why did Jesus lament and issue such a stern rebuke? Jesus was angry with the religious leaders because they failed to listen to God's word and they misled the people they were supposed to teach and lead in the ways of God. Jesus gave a series of examples to show how misguided they were. In their zeal to win converts, they required unnecessary and burdensome rules which obscured the more important matters of religion, such as love of God and love of neighbor. They were leading people to Pharisaism rather than to God. Jesus also chastised them for their evasion of binding oaths and solemn promises. Oaths made to God were considered binding, but the Pharisees found clever ways to evade the obligation of their oaths when convenience got in the way. They forgot that God hears every word we utter and he sees the intention of the heart even before we speak or act. The scribes and Pharisees preferred their idea of religion to God's idea. They failed as religious leaders to teach others the way of God's kingdom because they failed to listen and to understand the intention of God's word. Through their own pride and prejudice they blindly shut the door of their own hearts and minds to God's understanding of his kingdom.

How can we shut the door of God's kingdom in our lives? By closing our ears to Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelations 17:14; 19:16), who speaks words of life and love, truth and freedom, hope and pardon. The Lord Jesus wants to dwell with us and to bring us into his kingdom. He opens the way for each of us to "ascend to heaven" and to bring "heaven to earth" in the daily circumstances of our lives. God's kingdom is present in all who seek him and who do his will. Do you pray as Jesus taught, "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10)?

"Lord Jesus, your word is life for me. May I never shut the door to your heavenly kingdom through my stubborn pride or disbelief. Help me to listen to your voice and to conform my life more fully to your word."

Meditation SG:

Everything that is not real falls under the category of illusion. And when we are in a state of illusion, we are not living life. To be real — towards God, towards others and towards ourselves — is Christ’s invitation for us in today’s Gospel, when he criticizes the Pharisees on several counts, generally to be summed up as being hypocrites and blind guides.

He invites us to see the essence of everything we are and in everything we do. He challenges us not to embrace superficiality, unlike some Pharisees who see things based on appearances and live life in a mediocre way. Their life is like an onion, in which peeling off every layer of its skin leaves it empty, for it has no core. We are not called to live such a life without a core, but a life that is real, a life that is fully Christian, rooted in its very core: the Triune God, who is love, who is real.

Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to live life fully by being real towards You, towards others and towards ourselves. Gently take away the masks that suffocate our being.