Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus laments the stubbornness
and the Jewish leaders. We are to realise that we must humbly listen to God and
in love and gratitude obey him in all things. This is the way to happiness.
Thursday 15
October 2020
Blessed are
those who show the way to peace
Gospel
Luke 11:47-54
You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others who
wanted to
1.
Jesus said:
2.
‘Alas for you who
build the tombs of the prophets, the men your ancestors killed!
3.
In this way you
both witness what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you
do the building.
4.
‘And that is why
the Wisdom of God said,
5.
“I will send them
prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute,
6.
so that this
generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed
since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of
Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary.”
7.
Yes, I tell you,
this generation will have to answer for it all.
8.
‘Alas for you
lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge!
9.
You have not gone
in yourselves,
10.
and have prevented
others going in who wanted to.’
11.
When he left the
house, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him
12.
and tried to force
answers from him on innumerable questions,
13.
setting traps to
catch him out in something he might say.
The leaders of the Jews were full of themselves
and had made religion a means of furthering their own interests and not that of
God’s. The basic characteristic that we
should have is humility. We are nothing in ourselves – made out of the dust of
the earth and given, in his goodness, the breath of life by God. In humility we
should be open and listen to God, in order to do his will. God, and his will
are the centre of life and so of religion.
For this reason, since the prophets had opposed
their self-seeking, pride and obstinacy to God’s demands, the Jews had
persecuted the prophets sent by God. Now they will persecute and crucify Jesus.
He stands in their way. They had the outward show of religion. This brought
them favour in the eyes of the people in the religious atmosphere of the day.
But they were not interested in religion really, but in power and their favoured
way of life. Jesus revealed their hypocrisy and so had to be illuminated.
On the contrary Mary exhibits the true
religious attitude. She recognises that she is nothing in herself, but that God
has done great things for her. She has no self-interest. She is the humble
handmaid of the Lord and listening to God allows him to do in her life whatever
he wishes, and she cooperates.
We too must first and foremost listen to God
speaking in our lives. Then we must allow God to guide our lives. He is to be
the centre and we are to live for him, not for ourselves.
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