ALL ARE SAVED BY FAITH

October 14, Thursday

TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

We cannot save ourselves by observing laws and relying on our religious practices. We are saved simply by the goodness of God who revealed himself to us in Christ. Even our faith is a gift from God and this faith will set us free from sin and make us share in God’s goodness and love. This is difficult to understand for the scribes, the legalists of Christ’s day, and also for the legalists of our time. They cannot understand that everything is grace…

 

First Reading: Romans 3:21-29

            But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.

So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews.

 

Gospel: Luke 11:47-54

“You’re hopeless! You build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed. The tombs you build are monuments to your murdering ancestors more than to the murdered prophets. That accounts for God’s Wisdom saying, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, but they’ll kill them and run them off.’ What it means is that every drop of righteous blood ever spilled from the time earth began until now, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was struck down between altar and sanctuary, is on your heads. Yes, it’s on the bill of this generation and this generation will pay.

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won’t go in yourself, and won’t let anyone else in either.”

As soon as Jesus left the table, the religion scholars and Pharisees went into a rage. They went over and over everything he said, plotting how they could trap him in something from his own mouth.

 

Prayer

Lord God of the covenant,
we thank you for the gift of faith
in your Son Jesus Christ,
in the forgiveness and love
which he brought us from you.
All you let us touch and feel
is pure grace and a free gift.
Give us grateful hearts, Lord,
that recognize your goodness
in nature, in people around us,
and above all in your Son Jesus Christ,
who lives with you and with us now and for ever. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Preaching the wrong gospel
The tension between Jesus and the religious leaders is building up. Jesus sharpens his criticisms on the hypocrisy and falsehood of the religion leaders. And this would soon lead up to his persecution, sufferings, killing. Jesus sees a pattern at work in the behaviour of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They present themselves to be eager to honour the prophets whom their forefathers had killed, but, deep down they too behave the same way: persecuting those sent by God, and they want to kill Jesus.
The period in which the Gospels were written were the time of sever persecutions for those who believed in Jesus. Both the political authorities and religious leaders came harsh on the people of the New Way and so many believers of Jesus were put to death. St. Luke wants to communicate to his readers that the mission of the Church is similar to the mission of the prophets of the Old Testament, and the mission of Jesus himself, and therefore will have to undergo many sufferings and in some cases, death at the hands of their contemporaries.
As we have reflected yesterday, Jesus loses his temper on the religion scholars and the Pharisees and lashes-out two “woes” for their hypocrisy and guiding the people on the wrong path. Teachers of the law considered themselves to be the custodians of the Torah – who had “the key of knowledge,” but they conveniently taught the wrong catechism. They consider themselves to be the owners, not communicators, of God’s truth. Thus, they manipulate it, they condition it, throw on others a burden that is never the will of God.
The Gospel continues to challenge the leaders of the Church today. Are the leaders of today giving a gospel which is not lived by them? Is the gospel we preach, becoming a burden for the people? Do we interpret the scriptures in such a way that we make God inaccessible to ordinary people?
Wherever the Word of God is proclaimed, opposing voices and persecutions are bound to happen, because it is the devil is never happy with the spread of God’s word. The enemies of Jesus continued their attack until crucifixion. And it continued on the apostles and the believers in the early Church. Such attacks continue to this day.
Perhaps the youngsters today have lost interest in God, religion and the Bible because we, the leaders in the Church, teachers and theological and moral ‘experts’ and Catholic parents have failed to share with them the merciful, loving and forgiving face of God in the Gospels.

 

Video available on Youtube: Preaching the wrong gospel