LET US KILL HIM

PRAYER MOMENT 

Friday 6 March 2015

LET US KILL HIM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over the inheritance. So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Matt 21:33-46)

Reflection. On this Friday, as on other Fridays in Lent, we have echoes of Good Friday: the response of the Jewish leaders, of other leaders throughout history and of ordinary individuals who choose to kill to get their way. It is the way human beings, from the days of Cain and Abel, have solved their problems. And it is still with us today in Iraq and Nigeria and other places. To kill is to demean ourselves; it is to reject hope of reconciliation, to reject communion with others. Twenty million were killed in World War I a hundred years ago. It was a slaughter of young people because their elders could not rise to the challenge of reconciling diverse interests. And so we continue to this day.

            

Prayer. Lord, long ago you gave us the command, ‘you shall not kill.’ But we go on killing. Open our eyes to the thoughts of vengeance and hate that lurk wthin us and help us to respect and accept one another. Amen.