PRAYER MOMENT
Wednesday
19 November 2014
HIS
COMPATRIOTS DETESTED HIM
Pause. Be still in God’s presence.
Reading: “But his compatriots
detested him and sent a delegation to follow him with this message, ‘We do not
want this man to be our king.’” (Luke 19:11-28)
Reflection. This is Luke’s version of Matthew’s
parable of the talents we read last Sunday and it is even harsher. (Last year
on this day we welcomed Fr Chuks as the new rector of Arrupe College, Harare, and
the reader enjoyed reading this bit!). In both stories the key person is an
unsavoury character who ‘reaps where he has not sown.’ But in both cases the
one who does nothing comes off worse. The key to the stories is the expectation
of the people listening to Jesus that the ‘kingdom of God was going to show
itself then and there.’ Jesus cautions them; in a corrupt world people act and improve
their lives through their hard work. How is it, he asks, that when the kingdom
of God is in your midst you, the ‘children of light,’ do nothing?’ You sit on
your hands! Maybe that is a stark reading of the parable but still, we have to
hold it up as a mirror and ask what is it saying to me.
Prayer. Lord, help us through your
Spirit to be attentive to your stories and see what they are saying to me.. Amen.
David Harold-Barry SJ
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