False Idols

Gospel: Luke 11: 47-54

Many churches are filled with images of saints and of Jesus himself.  It is said we have them in order to inspire us to the life of holiness they lived.  But how often do our churches with all this artistic finery feel more like museums to the past rather than places where holiness and imitation of the Lord Jesus are our primary focal points.  How often is it the case that other idols and images are the real driving force behind modern religion rather than the Lord Jesus himself?

More and more we see the incessant preoccupation with ideology, with the currying of favor with the rich and powerful as the driving force in modern Christian life.  People choose their congregational attendance based on these concerns rather than seeking to imitate the Lord Jesus.  When churches and their attendant institutions are more interested in memorials and statuary to a contemporary political ideologue rather than defending the dignity of the poor, marginalized, immigrants, migrants, and refugees, we know we are a long way from the life and example of the Lord Jesus.

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel portion are as relevant to our times as to his own.  The false promises of the desert of temptation are continually set before us.  That which the Lord Jesus rejected we readily accept.  We eagerly choose Barabbas over Jesus; we continually put the Lord to death again and again when we neglect the poor, malign the immigrant, refugee, and migrant, when we perpetuate an unjust and merciless death penalty system.  Woe to us...