On January 1st every year people wish each other “Happy New Year.” Did you ever ask yourself what truly makes someone happy? Does the turning of a calendar bring joy? Does a fresh new start of the calendar year bring happiness? In Luke chapter 11, Jesus scolds the Pharisees and Lawyers that they had tended to focus on outer things to do the will of God but it is essentially inner activities that cultivate joy: “give for alms those things that are within, and see everything will be clean for you” (Luke 11: 36). The Pharisees and Lawyers missed the mark on this point. They focused on outer things, in order to win over the praise and adoration of the community. However, in reality they thought they had the respect of believers but they, in fact, did not. Jesus told the Pharisees “woe to you for you are like unmarked graves and people walk all over them without realizing it” (Luke 11: 44). The faithful in Biblical times essentially did not respect the Pharisees because of their incongruous faith. The figuratively “walked all over them” in spirit and the Pharisees themselves did not realize this. Jesus was bringing attention to their hypocrisy so that they wake up and see their inner blindness. That inner blindness was hardness of heart, lack of love and compassion and ignorance of inner realities.
Happy New Year
