Above all else, Jesus constantly called his disciples to live their lives honestly: to be authentic about who they were. At times, he pointed out situations where people were not living according to this value, in order to make his point. Evidence of this is found in today's gospel passage: The scribes and Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses (in other words, they are the legitimate leaders by virtue of the positions they hold, therefore do and observe all things they tell you (Mt 23:2-3). However, Jesus went further: but do not follow their example. This rebuke still stings if we ourselves have abused power that was legitimately given to us.
If we truly want to be disciples of Jesus, we should constantly be on the lookout for situations where we are called to exercise leadership in his name, but even more so, we should always be aware of the temptation to allow power and control to be falsely used or badly represented. Otherwise, we run the risk of modelling our lives after those of the leaders of old who abused the power that had been entrusted to them.
Today, let us pray for the grace not to fall prey to the temptation to use our authority to fulfill false ambitions. Rather, let us entrust ourselves to the care of our heavenly Father, who will always call us to authenticity in all we do and say.
Have a great day.
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