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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
October 12, 2022
The Invitatory
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Luke 11:42-46
‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’
One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.’ And he said, ‘Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
I saw an advertisement for Ancestry on television recently. Two women were discussing the achievements of their ancestors whom they had found through this service. They were discussing in particular those who had been formerly enslaved. One woman remarked that their accomplishments served as an “anchor for the soul.” I then thought, maybe better for one’s character than for the soul. And then this question occurred to me: What does anchor the soul?
It seemed to me then that what we celebrate as our accomplishments or achievements could greatly divert our attention and lead us to believe that our deeds, our “super powers,” the force of our personality - all these do feed our character. Do we truly desire them to feed our souls? Can we truly rely upon them to save us? Many passages in Scripture would say, “No!” Where does this leave one’s soul? To what is it anchored?
What takes place in this very short pericope from Luke can be considered in light of just these questions. For it is very clear how great a sway the power the Pharisees wield seems to anchor them.
Jesus has been invited to dine with a Pharisee. Having accepted the invitation, Jesus joins the Pharisee’s company that includes other Pharisees and lawyers. He immediately offends his host because he did not wash before dinner. Not heeding the etiquette of his day, Jesus then proceeds to blast his host and guests. Clearly, a most regrettable breach of etiquette.
The language that he chooses, “Woe to you Pharisees!” is reminiscent of his Sermon on the Plain. In general it reflects his opposition in his person and his notion of kingdom to the Roman government in occupation. Here he brings his opposition and his challenge to the Roman government into the state dining room. He issues a direct challenge to Roman authority, rulers and those who are advantaged by Roman rule.
It is a teaching for the disciples and sets the standard of behavior to which Jesus will hold them, a warning of what should anchor their souls. The woes are also addressed to the disciples as a warning to them to conform to the image of the poor and disassociate themselves from the rich. For those who are not the disciples, the woes are a direct challenge to the social order of the Roman Empire, the 1% who live at the expense of the 99%.
The Pharisees and lawyers have used their power arbitrarily, their accomplishment, to increase the peoples’ obligations imposed by the written law itself. It was because of the lawyers that the Torah, meant to open the way for joyful service to God, became a burden. And the lawyers will do nothing to alleviate this. The love of God and justice were what should have been practiced, perhaps in addition to the other practices. This is what should have been; but what was not, became the emphasis for those who criticize Jesus.
Justice in Scripture is read and understood to be God’s just fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation: love that is that bond of love inciting him to do so. This is definitely not something humankind could understand, let alone construct.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory
for ever and ever. Amen.
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