The Greatest Treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.
T.S Eliot ranks among the great poets of modern times.
One of his most quoted passages reflects the thoughtfulness of his poetry. It goes like this: “The greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”
This a central point in today’s Gospel from Mark, so I’d like to repeat it. “The greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”
In today’s Gospel we find Jesus confronting the Pharisees for doing many right things but for the wrong reason.
For example, they pray, they fast, they give money to the poor; but they did these things for the wrong reason.
And what were these wrong reasons? In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples not to pray as the Pharisees do. They like to pray on street corners.
They pray on street corners! Jesus says bluntly, “So that everyone will see them.”
Jesus continues by telling his disciples not to fast the way the Pharisees do. They put on sad faces when they fast, so everyone will see that they are fasting.
And finally, Jesus tells his disciples not to give to the poor the way Pharisees do, making a big show of it!
And again Jesus tells his disciples bluntly that they do it so that people will praise them. Very strong words coming from the gentle Jesus.
Who were these Pharisees anyway? And how did they get into the practice of doing the right things for the wrong reason?
They were for the most part, laypeople who wanted to reform Judaism. They felt that it had become too lax.
So, in their minds they became self-appointed models of what every good Jew ought to be. They focused on two points, especially: a more rigid observance of the Law of Moses and a more rigid observance of human traditions.
And, it was this rigid observance of human traditions, especially those that led them to do things for the wrong reason.
Examples of these human traditions were the endless washings that Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel.
Worse yet, the Pharisees got caught up in these highly visible traditions that, in some cases, they put them ahead of the Law of Moses. As you may recall, Jesus told the people that He had a come, not to abolish the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it.
This is why Jesus speaks out so bluntly to the Pharisees, saying to them in today’s Gospel “You put aside God’s command and obey human teachings.”
We may wonder, “How does this distortion of religion by the Pharisees apply to us in our lives today?”
It reminds us that we, too, need to guard against turning religion into something that God never intended it to be.
We can, unwittingly, do something similar to what the Pharisees did. We can do or say things so much out of habit that they lose their original meaning or purpose.
For example: When you took holy water upon entering the church and signed yourself with it, did you give any thought as to why you were doing it? It was originally intended to remind us of our baptism and to be a renewal of it.
Unfortunately, we can get so used to performing this act that it loses its beauty and meaning. God does not want us to perform acts and to say prayers mechanically and out of habit. He wants us to do our acts and say our prayers consciously and out of love.
The apostle James refers to this in today’s second reading. When he says it is not enough for us to simply listen to God’s word.
We must change it into acts of love directed to God and to our neighbor. Paul makes the same point in his First Letter to the Corinthians. He says:
“I may have all the faith needed to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing.
I may give away everything I have … but if I have no love, this does me no good … It is love that we should strive for.
And, in conclusion I’d like to share a story, which you may have heard. But I believe that it’s a good illustration of doing the right thing for the right reason.
A mother went into the bedroom of six year old son, Danny, where he was watching T.V.
She said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need my shoes shined. I’ve got to run to the hospital for a few minutes.
“I’ve put the shoes outside on the sidewalk. That way if you accidentally spill any polish, it won’t hurt anything.”
When Danny picked up the first shoe, he noticed something inside it, a dollar bill. A note attached to it said, “Thanks, this is for you”, signed “Mom.”
Later, when Danny’s mother slipped her foot into the first shoe, she felt something inside it. She took it out. It was Danny’s dollar bill with a note attached to it. It read: “Thanks, Mom. But I shined your shoes not for money – but out of love. Danny.”
My friend from Franciscan University
in Steubenville, Fr. Tom Forrest, writes in his book,
Move
It Out: Sharing the Mission Of Christ with Zeal,
“If I walk in the Light of Life but with that light illuminate the pathway of not a single other person, and if I feast on the bread that ends all hunger and the drink that takes away all thirst but lead no one to the Eucharistic banquet table, where is the love of Christ in me?”