Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 427

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

Jesus's metaphor of the whitewashed tombs reminds me of the septic tank at our retreat house in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Some genius put a lawn swing on it, which overlooks a neighboring lake. It's a wonderful place to sit in the evening and watch the sunset. No one ever wonders why this slab of concrete is here in the first place.

Jesus' teaching is about  corruption which, like sewage, may seep into every corner of our common life.

I consider myself blessed that I have never had to pay a bribe for a driver’s license, a building permit, to vote or to bury the dead. I have been caught speeding on state highways a few times, but the officer was always polite and business-like. He did not offer to write off the offence if I gave him all my cash.

I don’t take my good fortune for granted. I hear continually of corruption, graft and greed in foreign countries. The entire Communist empire was a kleptocracy. Had its managers been as honest as the socialist vision was pure, it might have succeeded. Government workers in Asia, Africa and South and Central America consistently supplement their income with bribes. The lowest paid workers get their jobs by bribery, and their employers bought their jobs with bribes. And so forth all the way to the top.

I worry when I hear of students cheating in school. Will they purchase phony diplomas? Will they have the requisite skills of surgeons, nurses, airline pilots and building contractors or will they buy the jobs from corrupt employers?

A recent article in New Yorker Magazine told of police and district attorneys stripping out-of-state drivers of cash and other goods. By confiscating the assets of suspected criminals, cities and counties supplement their revenue. In many cases government employees would be laid off without the extra income. This “asset forfeiture” of money, cars and other valuables is absolutely legal if the arresting officer says he detected a whiff of marijuana in the cars. No charges are made against the drivers. They are dismissed while a legal case is made against their property: "Texas vs. $2,000." Hapless drivers cannot defend their property; lawyer fees would exceed the losses. Predictably, the victims of this legal scam are poor, young, or recent immigrants.

Local governments depend upon this shady practice because citizens demand services but tax-payers refuse to pay for them. 


Corruption creeps into our lives like the vampire miasma of Bram Stoker’s novel. More laws will not protect us. We dare not take our privileges for granted. Honest leadership in government, church, sports, entertainment, education begins in the heart of every citizen.