Liberative Religion!

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Eph 1:1-10; Lk 11:47-54

Today’s Gospel is a continuation of the woe message from the past couple of days. 

Jesus condemns the unrepentant behaviour of those who build tombs for the prophets whom their own ancestors killed. 

Outwardly, building the tombs for dead prophets looks like honoring them. But Jesus looks at their lives, which demonstrate no remorse, neither for what their ancestors did nor for the way they now ratify it by building tombs. 

Looking at their ironic behaviour, Jesus is asking who they are trying to deceive. They might have deceived the ordinary folks, but not God, who in His wisdom foretold the same before ages. 

Jesus exposes their hypocrisy by showing that those who murder and those who honor the murdered are of the same lineage. 

For their part, the scholars of the law behave more like the Pharisees and teach people to follow a religion that worships laws, not God. 

In sum, Jesus is enraged by the dishonest religious leaders who not only preach a false religion but also are prime examples of it. 

But Jesus came to preach the genuine religion that liberated people from any enslavement whatsoever. 

The mission manifesto of Jesus (Lk 4:18-19) is an outstanding example of it. 

Jesus became an example of the religion he preached. Furthermore, he did not hesitate to die on the cross to prove God’s liberating love for humanity. 

Following Jesus is to preach and practice a religion of liberation that helps people discover God’s purpose and strive toward it as one human family. 

Let us pray that we may inspire others through the religion we proclaim and practice. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar