文|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣以尖锐的目光注视并且狠狠地批评宗教领袖们多方面的腐败。令耶稣烦恼的到底是什么？有些宗教领袖很喜欢使人们肩负重担、以诸多法律压制他人、作出骇人的要求、为自己的清高而沾沾自喜。

 

耶稣的教导核心是甘愿为别人承担重担，帮助他们减轻负担。这也适用于道德生活。如果我们对他人施以天主法规的重担，那我们同时也必须甘愿帮助他们承担重负。

 

宗教人们，尤其是宗教领袖的另一个典型的问题是：他们用法律和道德来妄自尊大。难题是这些毒品的效力转瞬即逝，然后我们贪得无厌，想要更高的头衔、更令人尊敬、更多的赞誉。

 

对于这些欲壑难填的人们，耶稣有何建议？要成为伟人就要做个仆人：谦逊、纯朴、常常被人忘记。避开受人尊敬的标志；别追逐名望。无论你以天国的名义做什么事情，都要心满意足。

 

Friends, in today's Gospel Jesus turns his sharp eye and withering critique on the many ways that religious leaders fall into corruption. What precisely is bothering Jesus? Some religious leaders get their kicks from burdening people, laying the law on them heavily, making demands that are terrible, exulting in their own moral superiority.

 

At the core of Jesus' program is a willingness to bear other people's burdens, to help them carry their loads. And this applies to the moral life as well. If we lay the burden of God's law on people, we must be willing, at the same time, to help them bear it.

 

Another classic problem with religious people and especially religious leaders: they use the law and morality as a means of inflating the ego. The trouble is that this drug wears off rather quickly, and then we want more of it. We need a greater title, more respect, more recognition.

 

What is Jesus' recommendation for those caught in this dilemma? To be great is to be a servant: lowly, simple, often forgotten. Eschew marks of respect; don't seek them. Be satisfied with doing your work, whatever it is, on behalf of God's kingdom.