10/19/2023 (Thursday) Today’s gospel reading: Luke 11:47-54

The Lord said:
47 “Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed.
48 Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.
49 Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’
50 in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
52 Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
53 When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things,
54 for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

10/19/2023 (Thursday) Today’s gospel reflection / Homily / Sermon: Luke 11:47-54

When people build a memorial of a certain person, say a monument of that person, they want to immortalize the good deeds of that person. At the same time and perhaps without any intention, they will also remember all that had happened to that person that they want to honor. For example, they will recall the death of that person and the cause of his death. In the gospel reading above, Jesus is trying to tell us to learn from the mistakes of the past which the religious leaders at that time cannot do. They want to immortalize the lives of the prophets of old but they are oblivious to the fact that these prophets were murdered for the same reason that they are trying to kill Jesus.

The fact is that the religious leaders during the time of Jesus were very entrenched in their position and that they were not ready to be disturbed by anyone. They want the memorials of the previous prophets to be built, not because they admire the good deeds of these prophets but to make the people admire them and thus, they become more secure in their position. That is why, when Jesus criticized them, they became enraged and planned to eliminate Him which they actually did when Jesus was crucified.

May we learn from the mistakes of the pharisees and not repeat them. Let us therefore pray that we may have an open heart that is ready to accept the teachings of Jesus no matter how it makes us uncomfortable. In fact, we should allow Jesus to disturb us from time to time so that we may always be alert to his calling for us to be on the right path and not slumber in the comfort of inaction and sin.

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