Luke 11:47-54 “in a snailshell”
Thursday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 Gloria M. Chang
How does the blood of Abel to Zechariah lead us back to God to accept the redemption offered by Christ?
Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ in order that this generation might 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 died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! 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.” When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
Luke 11:47-54
Burial of the Prophets from Abel to Zechariah
Continuing his condemnation of the lawyers, Jesus denounces their pompous veneration of the prophets’ tombs, which they desecrate by disdaining the word of the Lord, calling them to return to God and walk in his ways. The blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah cry out to God “from the ground,” appealing for justice (Genesis 4:10). Tomb builders who killed and buried the prophets and their warnings failed to put to death their sin but kept it alive and festering.
Burial of Sin
Jesus did not come to join the line of prophets killed and venerated in tombs. More than a prophet, the Son of God accomplished what no messenger could before him. Bearing the sin of the world, the Lamb of God put to death sin on the Cross and by his blood, redeemed the world. Leaving behind his empty tomb on the third day, Christ Jesus attained final victory over sin and death.
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
Romans 6:4
God’s prophets lie dead in the ground,
Their messages trampled,
Their tombstones renowned.
Traditional Chinese Translation
《從亞伯到撒迦利亞》
神的衆先知死在地下，
他們的信息遭踐踏，
他們的墓碑卻名聞遐邇。
Dear GMC, May you shine brightly as you proclaim our Lord. Your reflection reminds me of this Franciscan prayer:
Risen Lord, you have broken open the tomb of death, and have brought eternal life to those who believe.
You have brought light where there was darkness.
Help those who proclaim you to shine brightly
that they may bring your light to those in darkness.
Amen.
The prophets were killed for speaking truth to those who didn’t want to hear it, especially the powerful. Jesus, who is the Truth, was handed over by those who feared His Eternal Truth. Man killed God. And we’re still doing it.
Our modern society wants all truth erased. The cancel-culture is a small example of man killing truth.
Praise God who’s Truth could not be silenced, even by death.
Amen! Truth is immortal.
“This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.”
John 10:17-18
If no one is teaching truth,
No one learns true wisdom.
Only false fake news is on the air.
If one is led by the Holy Spirit,
Only truth is learned and lived.
Lord, it’s your truth I want to bear.
Send me to spread your kingdom.
Thank you for your prayerful poem, Liz. May the Lord make you a bearer of his good news!
Truth bearers bring light:
Unanswered questions,
Deep doubts,
False hope,
are illuminated,
opened up,
become transparent.
Light allows wisdom bits,
blessed assurances,
eternal hope.
God bearers are graced,
slipping through thin spaces,
sparkling gems, sustainable,
only by Holy Spirit.
Sparkling gems dart to and fro,
Flashing fire in Spirit’s flow.