The readings for Mass today are a puzzling contrast. The first reading from Ephesians is beautiful, peaceful, affirming and full of love for Jesus Christ. Saint Paul is completely filled with the Holy Spirit when he wrote these words, and the Spirit still burns brightly in them:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In Christ we have redemption by his Blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.”
The responsorial psalm then goes on to speak of joy:
“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds … Sing joyfully to the lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. Sing praise to the Lord with the harp … sing joyfully before the King, the Lord.”
How beautiful are these words in scripture today! They make your heart sing just reading them. We could just stop right there and reflect on the first reading and the responsorial psalm because of the beautiful feelings they invoke in us. There is really nothing wrong with that. Lectio Divina is a peaceful way of praying with the scriptures and these are excellent verses for further reflection.
It would be a lot more desirable to pass over the gospel today entirely. We don’t need anymore negativity in our lives than what we already have. It is such a temptation to just block out the gospel entirely and go on our merry way, and enjoy the blissful thoughts we just read in the first reading and the psalm.
However, that is exactly what the Jewish people did in today’s gospel. They blocked out the memory of the unjust murder of the prophets. They glorified the prophets, but put it out of their mind that they were unjustly murdered by their own ancestors.
That’s the thing about Jesus though, that is actually a beautiful thing, in spite of all the negativity we read in the gospel today. Jesus doesn’t forget. Everyone else may forget about the terrible injustices that are done to people, but Christ never does. He never will forget them, and he proves this by recalling the murder of Abel. From the foundation of the world, every act of bloodshed is known by him. Jesus said in today’s gospel:
“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!”
Before we begin to feel hopeless about our own sins though, Saint Paul explains in the first reading that:
“In Christ we have redemption by his Blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.”
What Jesus cares about is our heart. Yes, he cares about our past, about the sins we have committed in the past. But, if you notice throughout the gospels, Jesus is more concerned about the present condition of our hearts. If we are sorry for the things we do that are wrong, he forgives us. If we do not acknowledge our sins though, then we are not forgiven of them. That was the problem with the Jewish people in the gospel today. They acted like neither they nor their ancestors did anything wrong.
Another small thing that is mentioned at the end of the gospel is something worth pausing to think about:
“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.”
There are people in the workplace, and perhaps even in ministries of the church, that learn a great deal. They are good at their job, or good at a particular ministry. Everyone looks up to them and do not know what they would do without them. But, there is a very grave danger in this. It is a temptation to hold it over people’s heads that you know more than them, that you are “needed” more than others. It can make you feel better than others, and can even be used as leverage in the workplace to manipulate people into getting what you want. It is also a symptom of pride to want people to look up to you in the church ministries, that you do such an important work that you are indispensable.
The greatest gift you can give to your community, your parish and even your children, is to teach them what you know. To empower other people instead of clinging to your own knowledge and abilities, is to be like Christ. Jesus empowered his disciples. He didn’t keep his powers to himself. They were for the good of others, in service to God’s people, and he freely shared them with his disciples. They went out into the world and healed people too.
There is a saying that you can give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day. But, if you teach him to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime. That is the same principle that Jesus is talking about when he condemns the scholars of the law. They clung to their own knowledge, without sharing it with the people. Perhaps they thought they were great intellectuals and the common person was not smart enough to understand the mysteries of God? But, you can never understand the fullness of knowledge, or the fullness of our faith, without actually doing it. We have to actually live what we know.
If we want to help build God’s kingdom, have a lot of friends and people who care about us, and enjoy peace and lasting happiness in our lives, we need to share what we know with others, so they can ‘pay it forward’ to the people in their lives as well. We aren’t indispensable. The greatest gift we can leave behind us when we leave this world, is to have shared what we know with those around us. Hopefully, our faith in Jesus Christ is what people will remember the most about us. But, perhaps they will also remember that we could cook, or garden, or fix things too. Someone taught us these things. It is right and fitting to share what we know with others too.
Daily Mass Readings:
Ephesians 1: 1-10 / Psalm 98 / Luke 11: 47-54
