Knowing but not doing

The texts today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent address the situation of knowing the best path but not doing it. This is a very human behaviour. Isaiah reminds the people of his time of the action of God in the biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19) Isaiah’s people know of the need for discipline, goodness, justice if they seek to be more intimate with the Divine. This knowledge is not enough for them or for us. The Prophet concludes his exhortation to change with the promise of God that the people can be forgiven and cleansed of their wrongdoing. The psalmist reminds us that God is not a creature like us. There is a danger to reduce the Divine to the personality of a good, intimate and like ourselves, flawed friend. This is a misunderstanding. The Divine relationship can put our hypocrisy in our face. The psalmist echoes “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? In Matthew’s Gospel, the section today is called Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees. We are the Scribes and Pharisees. We also hear Isaiah remind us that we also know that we can move from our hypocrisy by discipline and obedience towards more authenticity in our relationship with God. That is good!