October 17, 2024

Luke 11:47-54

In this reading, Jesus confronted the scholars, Pharisees, and scribes on their hypocrisy in honoring those prophets who brought messages from God.   In the past, some of the Israelites killed the prophets who came to them, but now they build tombs to those same prophets.  In Jesus’ time, he says that those who focus exclusively on the Jewish law, the “lawyers,” have also “taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”  He is saying that they are blocking people from having a direct relationship with God by listening to Jesus’ teachings, and they are redirecting people into formulaic adherence to a complicated set of rules.  Thus in both the past and the present, the ruling class of Israel blocked the flow of communication with God, and the latest example was Jesus himself, who would be killed for bringing his Gospel of truth. The Pharisees and scribes were offended by this, and they began to be hostile to him and lie in wait to catch him in something he might say against the Jewish law. 

Throughout the flow of history – since Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, since Moses at the burning bush, since Samuel, since the prophets and Isaiah, and in many countless other instances not recorded in writing – God has sought to communicate with human beings.  Since Jesus’ walked the earth, countless others have communicated with God whether directly or through intermediaries, some saints for example recording their experiences. This has not stopped throughout history, and why would God stop communicating?  There may have been and still be a few rough patches, a few dark eras, in which the communication is blocked, but it resumes again and shines through and around the blockages.  We can trust in this – that God’s communication will continue, as that is in the divine nature.

Here Jesus is charging these powerful men with trying to block the flow of communication from God, which is a mistake on their part, but in the end, God’s truth cannot be blocked. 

Not only does God communicate to us, but God hears our cries, the cries of injustice and oppression and suffering.  There may be struggles here on earth in achieving justice and peace, but these cries do not go unmarked on the countenance of God.  Right now Gaza is screaming in pain.  What will heal its wounds, its deep wounds?  These painful wounds will cause cracks in the current power structure upper crust, and change will come. Do not be mistaken, pain and injustice have existed as long as there have been human beings. But as we are all one human family, the pain of Gaza is present in each of our own bodies too.  Let us be honest and not look away. We cannot slam our toe without our whole body reacting, and we cannot decimate Gaza without our whole human family feeling it.

That is all for today.