GOSPEL REFLECTION, WEDNESDAY, 28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, 14 OCTOBER 2026

Luke 11:42-46.  In today’s gospel Jesus declares warnings of impending judgement on those who observe the small ritual details of religious obligation while avoiding the larger and serious obligations.  He denounces the Pharisees for attending to slight obligations, such as tithing the herbs they have grown but neglect the truly serious obligations of justice and love for God identified in Luke 11:28.  Jesus is acting here like the prophets of the Old Testament who denounced the fiddling with minor religious details rather than dealing with the issues that have a real impact on people’s lives or on the substantial religious obligations of loving and having a deep reverence for God.  Dealing with lesser external details of religious observance rather than on the serious matters of religious life are condemned by Jesus.  He declares warnings of judgement for neglect of religious attitudes and convictions, of the serious matters of being just, equitable, and loving of God and of others.  Jesus’ strong language in our reading indicates the seriousness of what he says.  He condemns those who attend to minor external matters of religious observance rather than on its weighty obligations as ‘hypocrites,’ those who play-act at religion, who focus on religious appearances rather on truly serious religious matters.  He denounces such people as being ‘like unmarked graves’ that people walk all over rather than recalling the deceased as having lived holy, virtuous, and God-focused lives.  Strong words indeed!  We all must pay serious attention to this.  Jesus is not just condemning the Scribes and Pharisees of his day but on the religious ‘hypocrites’ and ‘unmarked, unremembered, unvirtuous’ of our own!