Luke 11: 47-54
The Lord said:
“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 approved.
Listen with Your Heart
Today’s Gospel doesn’t easily lend itself to prayer. Jesus, invited to a meal at the home of a Pharisee, ends up condemning the host and his guests – the leaders of his Jewish community. “Woe to you” scribes and Pharisees, the blood of the prophets is on you! For their part, perhaps not surprisingly, the scribes and Pharisees respond with hostility, cross-examining Jesus, and lying in wait to “catch him in something he might say.” How to pray with this passage?
Begin by paying attention. Pay attention to where your mind goes and what memories and ideas arise as you contemplate this passage. Pay attention also to your feelings and even where in your body you feel these feelings. Ask, what am I resistant to here? And also, what excites me and what creates agitation; what inflames my passions and prejudices? Do the hostilities make me sad, angry, troubled, confused? Does the tension and argument turn my stomach or make my head hurt? Or do I feel empowered and emboldened by Jesus’ condemnation of religious authority? And, just who is this Jesus who says these things, especially when invited to someone’s house to share a meal?
Take all of your reactions, especially your feelings, to prayer. Tell Jesus what is upsetting or exciting you. Tell the truth. And then become quiet. Listen. Sit and listen – listen with your heart to Jesus’s heart.
—Bill Lipscomb is a spiritual director with the Ignatian Spirituality Center and the Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Bill is a graduate of the Seminars in Ignatian Formation program of the Midwest Jesuits. Bill serves as a board member for the Ignatian Spirituality Project and as a spiritual reflector for the Ignatian Volunteer Corps.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, it often seems that everyone around us is shouting and angry. Our social and political leaders hurl hate-filled accusations at their opponents and urge us to join online in the virtual stoning. Pundits and would-be prophets lie in wait to catch their opponents in something they might say, assured that they are right and the other is wrong. Please, Lord, help us. Teach us to see as you see, to see the inherent goodness that is in every one of us. Teach us too to seek the truth. But, foremost, Lord, teach us to love. Amen
—Bill Lipscomb
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