In today’s Gospel Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount. In his Sermon Jesus teaches what it means to be his disciple and what we as his disciples are called to do. At the beginning of his Sermon, he defined his disciples as those who are “poor in spirit, humble, peacemakers.” He concludes his Sermon by challenging us not only to hear his words but to put them into practice: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” (7:24).
Right before this concluding exhortation comes today’s teaching where Jesus warns us: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.” These false prophets and teachers are those who preach but do not practice what they preach. Jesus applies this warning to all so-called prophets and teachers throughout the ages. Throughout the ages and up into our own time people have arisen who claim to be prophets and who claim to be the very voice of God and even to have had a true vision of God. Sometimes their message is one of hatred and revenge. We need to judge all these so-called prophets through the eyes of Jesus Christ. Do they teach and preach as Jesus taught and preached? Are they true to the Gospel and Jesus’ way of service and sacrifice? Do they include or exclude? Jesus teaches us that we judge these prophets not just by their words but by their deeds. If they teach a way of exclusion, hatred, racism, and revenge then they are false prophets.
A true prophet follows the way of Jesus by preaching love of God and love of neighbor and even love of enemy. Jesus teaches throughout this Gospel that a false prophet is a hypocrite and continually warns us against false prophets and hypocrite, be they Jewish or Christian: “For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.” (Matthew: 23:3-5).
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