Homily for 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s featured homily is from Fr. Sam Dinsdale of St. Vincent de Paul’s Parish in Holladay, UT.
Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalm 112:4-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16
February 8, 2026
We speak often that the Jews were all alike. There were 4 different types of Jews in the time of Jesus and the early church. There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the zealots and the Essenes. They represented 4 different spiritualities or ways of being Jewish in the 1st century. The Pharisees are much misunderstood and maligned, because in the gospel stories they seem to be in conflict with Jesus and his followers the most. They believed that everyone should live a holy and sacred life according to the law. They were most like the early Christian Church, so the problems that arose for the early Christians were with the Pharisees. Additionally, Paul was a Pharisee.
The second group were the Sadducees. They were the elite and educated. They were removed from the common people and they collaborated with the Romans. They were primarily concerned with the proper temple worship.
The Zealots were the nationalists. They wanted absolutely no collaboration with the Romans and wished for their independence at all costs.
The fourth group was the Essenes. They removed themselves from the community as well as from temple worship. They thought the temple priesthood was corrupt. They went outside of the city to do their own rituals to prepare for the coming of God.
Last week deacon Jeff preached on the beatitudes, the first part of chapter 5 from Matthew. It is a key passage that reveals God’s kingdom and Jesus’ ministry. If we are to take Christianity seriously then this should be a key passage for all of us. We continue with Jesus’ sermon on the mount and we are told to be salt. We are to instigate, bring life, inspire, and witness with our lives. If God is the wind, then we are the leaves. The scientific name for aspen is populus tremuloides. Aspens get their names from their leaves that tremble in the wind. We are to tremble as the spirit goes through us.
These four prominent groups that were active during the time of Jesus and the early church could be compared to r 4 different postures toward spirituality and religion. My focus today will be on how we can compare ourselves to them. Are we alike. I think we are. We could be like the Essenes. We could say a plague upon all houses. All religion and churches are corrupt. We want something pure, true and unsullied. We can either try to find some perfect church or community and then leave when we find a problem with it. We could start our own perfect church, like the Essenes out in the desert. Lots of people have done this. How many people have broken off from a church to find a new one. We can think of Martin Luther, John Calvin, or Joseph Smith. They have created the perfect church only to find later that it becomes imperfect, go figure. Maybe we could go the hermit route. We could just have our bible, live in a shack, shoot grizzly bears and live our lives far away from society. Or maybe we could just do nothing. Leave the church of our upbringing and have a very cynical view of all churches with the view of why bother, they are all bad. I believe in God, but the church is corrupt, so I will figure something else out.
We could be a Sadducee. We can become obsessed with offering the perfect rituals to keep God happy. We need the liturgy to be a particular way. We need to hold our hands the right way, not the wrong way. We need the right type of priest who will do the liturgy the way we want it. He has to dress a certain way and act a certain way. Friendly but solemn and serious. The holiness of the priest, the bishop and the pope and the way they manage the liturgies are the key. If we focus completely on them then we don’t have to worry so much about our own personal conversion. If the liturgy is correct and if the professionals, the priests, bishops, and pope are to our liking, then we don’t have to look into our own hearts. The liturgy should be solemn, beautiful, serious, and otherworldly. It’s better if we don’t understand, that makes the liturgy more mysterious.
The third way is the zealot. How many Christians worship the flag more than the trinity? Christian nationalism mixed with xenophobia has infected many branches of Christianity within our country. As Catholics we see a church that spans the world for all peoples and cultures, not just our own country and culture. God loves everyone; we are not the most favored country in God’s book.
The fourth way is to be a Pharisee. The Pharisee does not remove himself from his community. He does not see himself as elite and solely concerned about the temple sacrifice. The Pharisees were the ones who were most instrumental in allowing Judaism to survive after the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70ad, since there was no temple to offer sacrifice or do rituals. The focus of their lived spiritual practice was in the home with the family. They wanted each person to participate in the faith. We can think how Jews observe the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, have the sabbath meal in their home, and live their lives as Jews. This is largely thanks to the Pharisees. We could be like the Pharisees in the sense that we are all called to holiness. We are all called to conversion. We all are members of the mystical body of Christ. It takes all of us. Paul shaped the early church, and it is not a surprise that he was a Pharisee. We are all to be salt, not just the hierarchy, and we are to do it together. There is the place for the holy hermit on the rock, in the cave, out in the woods dancing with the bears, however we all can’t be that way.
To sum up, there is the perspective that nothing is good, all is wrong, evil or displeasing to God. There is the focus on others being what we want them to be and thinking ourselves to be their supreme judge. Lastly, we have the perspective that we are in this together so we should be in the church that is present and work on being the best Christians that we can be despite scandal, despite things not being the exact way we prefer, despite our weakness and the weakness of others.
Regardless, if we see ourselves on the right or left side of the spectrum, we as Americans have the greatest difficulty with working with others, being obedient to legitimate authority, and working for the common good. We are overly worried about getting our own needs and desires satisfied, so that we forget or neglect the common good. We are individuals, not persons in a community. Jesus tells us that we are to be the salt for others, so it is not just up to the leaders of our Church. Being a pastor, I am most affected by what lay people are doing. There are more lay people than priests or bishops so the spirit is working on you as well as the leadership. People will notice you before they notice what I, my brother priests, and those higher than us are doing. Additionally, what this is about is not about our perfect actions or the perfect actions of others, it is about God’s kingdom and how we are invited to participate in the mystery of God’s work in our lives and the Church from Pope to lay person. The early church was persecuted greatly, however even their persecutors commented on how they cared for the sick, the vulnerable and the poor. They saw how they didn’t have abortions nor abandon the children they didn’t want in the streets to die. What we would say now is how they honored the human dignity of those in the community and even those who didn’t understand them recognized their love for one another.