Word to the Wise
Friday, November 21, 2014 - Friday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 10:8-11 and Luke 19:45-48]The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the peoplewere hanging on his words. [Luke]
NOVEMBER 21 THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The reaction of the chief priests, scribes and leaders of the people is due to Jesus' action in driving out all the sellers of animals and coin changers in the temple area. One can imagine the short term chaos of coins rolling along the pavement from overturned tables and animals running wild and birds flying in all directions! Quite a mess! The reaction was nothing new, however, since religious authorities outside of Jerusalem had wanted to find ways of getting rid of Jesus as well. Since the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke envision a public ministry lasting about a year, it didn't take long for Jesus to make a big splash! Before he got to Jerusalem, he had people "hanging on his words."
The fear of the authorities had some basis in jealousy, some in the natural conservatism of religious leadership and some in anything that might upset the modus vivendi they had worked out with Roman authorities. This was especially true around the festival of Passover, which was about to happen when Jesus caused the ruckus in the temple.
We might find a similar reaction by some church leadership to Pope Francis! But I think we need first to ask ourselves how we react to any preacher who upsets us by his actions and words, or pleases us, for that matter. Why do we want to get rid of him or her, or why do we hang on their words? In the first instance (Pope Francis), it can tell us a lot about our church. In the second instance (ourselves), it can tell us a lot about our faith. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
76 ms
4
