Gospel: Luke 11: 47-54
How often are we obstacles to others in their path to God? We often see the obstacle as an active deterring others from access to God, and certainly that occurs often in the Gospels. Note how often Jesus' own disciples act as self-appointed gatekeepers and seek to prevent others from approaching Jesus, or in seeking to tell Jesus to have nothing to do with certain people. Note also how in every instance Jesus either ignores or severely rebukes them for doing so. Let the self-proclaimed "faithful" Christians take note...
At the same time we can be an obstacle to others in passive ways, as in the story of Zacchaeus. Here, we are just standing around, self-absorbed in our relationship with Jesus, unconscious of the fact that we are blocking the way for Zacchaeus, unaware of his needs. People have to work hard to get around us in order to see Jesus because we are not the window we should be, enabling the light to shine through and allowing others to see the presence of God among us. Let the smug, self-satisfied Christian take note...
In order for a window to be effective in letting in light and enabling others to see, it needs to be cleaned often. This requires a continual examination of ourselves to make sure we are not obstacles to others in their path to access God in the world. How many have been deterred by our actions or indifference?
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