DAILY HOMILIES #brood of vipers

As people drew near to John the Baptist, the religious leaders of the day arrived. John the Baptist called them a brood of vipers! Jesus later explained this further when he said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.” (Matthew 23:27)

While we celebrate God’s goodness to us at Christmas, it is important to remind ourselves too that amongst us are “brood of vipers.” Who are these brood of vipers? They come in various forms and take on different roles, they are persons who are never happy to see good things coming our way. For instance, the scribes and the Pharisees who could not rejoice to see the paralytic freed from a life of dependency and pain are examples of the brood of vipers.