Thursday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Ignatius of Antioch
Rom 3: 21-30; Luke 11: 47-54
Dc. Larry Brockman
So, Jesus tells the Scribes “You have taken away the key of knowledge”- the key of knowledge. Pretty firm words to the religious leaders of the time. What does it mean?
Well, some say that the key to knowledge is Faith, Faith in the Lord and in the Covenant He had made with His people in the scriptures that had been passed down to them. The Scribes and Pharisees had tried to replace faith in the word of God with faith in their own interpretation of scripture. And their interpretation emphasized the externals- complying with the letter of the Mosaic Law rather than understanding and complying with the Spirit of the Mosaic Law. For example, it was more important to wash your hands on the Sabbath than to feed the poor on the Sabbath. Thus, they had taken away the key to knowledge, faith in the Lord that was in the heart.
Others say that Jesus was referring to himself as the key to knowledge. Indeed, the Scribes and Pharisees fought Jesus and his message with a vengeance. And they were plotting to “take away” Jesus from the people at this very critical time when Jesus was preaching and converting the people. Jesus message was all about believing in the heart, and knowing what was written in the heart, a message of love of God and neighbor above all else.
What does all this have to do with us? Has someone taken away the key to knowledge from us, and replaced it with a morality which emphasizes literal compliance with the law rather than compliance to the message of God written in our hearts?
One way to recognize whether we have fallen into that trap is to understand how we act in our daily lives. Do we think that all we have to do is just behave nicely and salvation is ours? Maybe we come to Mass each week, receive Communion, don’t overtly lie, steal, or fight and just stay safely in our current environments while poverty, corruption, fraud, deception and violence are going on all around us. In other words, are we being “good” according to the interpretations of the law we have all learned and leaving the rest to someone else? Because, you see, isn’t that the same as believing that we can save ourselves by doing strictly what the law requires of us, and nothing more?
Now Paul says today, “We are justified by faith, and not just works of the law”. And by Faith, he means not just believing but living our Faith. And the Faith that we are to live is one that is written in our hearts; it calls us to love and care for one another, so much so that we cannot ignore what is going on around us. Jesus didn’t eat and socialize just with his disciples. Rather, he ate and socialized with people outside his circle of disciples; he talked to and cared for the outcasts of the society of his day including lepers, sick people, possessed people, tax collectors, widows, Samaritans, publicans, prostitutes, and foreigners.
Much has been said about Pope Francis in the media recently. He is calling for the Church to go outward, outside the walls rather than always emphasizing the law. It isn’t that we shouldn’t know the law and do what it says. But rather, we should get beyond that and go out and bring others, those who are separated from us, back into the fold. How? Not by preaching the law over and over to them, but by our example, an example of love.
Can you and I do it? You bet we can. We are in the middle of 40 days for life. Some of our parishioners are out there every day praying in front of Planned Parenthood’s Tampa Avenue Facility. No one person is out there all the time, they all take shifts. And all they do is pray. And you know what? People notice. They drive by and honk their horns in approval. And it’s been going on now for several weeks. So people even stop, and they tell our folks that they are impressed by the goodness, honesty, and sincerity of what they are doing. Indeed, these prayerful folks have not lost the keys. They are people of Faith filled with the message of Christ. We can do it.
