+ Our readings today tell of the tragic miscalculation of those
who refuse to “get it!” Those
who are steeped in their own prejudices, their own version of reality, their
own limited prospects of the future. How sad to be among that lot! How sad for those
who are in any kind of relationship or association with them! How sad indeed!
For it does not have to be that way!
St. Paul tells the Romans in
the first reading that so many of his fellow Israelites still do not “get it,”
do not get the fact that in the sweat and blood of Jesus, the Promise that they
are awaiting to be fulfilled of salvation, has indeed come to pass. He is sad
that his preaching has fallen on deaf ears, closed minds, and hardened hearts!
He bewails the fact that all they have to do is accept the utterly and entirely
free gift of the Holy Spirit – make an assent of will, agreement, belief and
begin to live the unimaginable life of the” freedom of the children of God!”
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise him, praise him!
In the gospel passage, Jesus
laments again the same closedness, stubbornness, and potentially fatal flaw of
the Pharisees: the inability to accept the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, and
therefore, is the only one qualified and eligible to not rewrite but to flesh
out the words and laws of their own religious expression. For example, when he
teaches the spirit of the law by healing on the Sabbath, they should have
demonstrated their humility and submission to him as Lawmaker, Lawgiver,
Lawinterpreter in Chief! Instead they reject him, and thereby reject their own
chance at participation in his act of reconciliation.
May we today set aside any
semblance of Pharisaism that we possess – and be truly wise, educable and
grateful children of the New Law – the law of love, the law of compassion, the
law of mercy – THE LAW OF GOD as it really is! – on any day of the week!
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord, Richmond! Praise the Lord, Glen Allen!
Amen.
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