The Gospel for The feast of St. Augustine is from Matthew 23:13 22. Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter your cells, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens, you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. Woe to you blind guides who say, if one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated. Blind fools, what is greater, the gold or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, if one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated. You blind ones, which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it.

One who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who dwells in it. One who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. You’ll notice in this criticism of the temple, Jesus isn’t necessarily focused so much on just what they teach. He does say they are not teaching the truth. But the real thing, I think he wants to point out is you look at them as models, as examples to follow, and they have failed miserably because people do learn more from the way people talk, the way they act, than anything else. So it’s a challenge for us.

If we are who God intends us to be, we become partners with him in establishing the kingdom. Otherwise, we are keeping people out. Closing Prayer Father, it’s so clear that you depend deeply upon human nature, human beings, to be able to proclaim your truth, who you are, and lead people to the fullness that you teach. Bless us with an openness to be exactly who you’ve called us to be. And we ask this in Jesus name, amen.