Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 11: 47-54

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.