LK 11:47-54
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.
Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB app
Who Are We Excluding?
Without a doubt, this is a difficult teaching. Jesus doesn’t hold anything back when dealing with the scribes and Pharisees. He sternly confronts them for their ill deeds. He goes right to the heart of the matter. And it seems to me the greatest ill deed that Jesus points out in this Scripture is that of taking away the key of knowledge, of daring not to enter, but stopping those who would. I see this as an indictment of those of us who would exclude others from the Kingdom. I see Jesus calling out those of us who have strict biased ideas about who should be able to come to “our” church, partake of “our” communion and sit in “our” pews. We all know people like this in our congregations. Perhaps it is us. Perhaps we can all do what Jesus is asking the scribes and Pharisees to do, namely, to take a good hard look at ourselves and ask, “who are we excluding?” At the end of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius says, “Love is shown more in deeds than in words.” In this vein we might also ask ourselves if we are loving in deeds or just words.
—Terresa Ford, M.Div. is a Resident Spiritual Health Clinician (Chaplain) at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, GA and a Resident Spiritual Director in the Spiritual Direction Formation program at Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Sandy Springs, GA.
Prayer
Gracious and loving Father, you are the God of all, not just a select few. Help us to root out our biased exclusionary ideas so that you can love the world in its entirety in and through us. You are love and you have called us to love all of our brothers and sisters. Help us to live lives of service to others and hasten your Kingdom on earth. Amen.
—Terresa Ford