REFLECTIONS TODAY
The prophet Zechariah was the son of the priest Jehoiada; he was ordered killed by King Joash of Judah for telling the people that because they have abandoned the Lord, the Lord has abandoned them. He was stoned “in the court of the house of the Lord” (2 Chr 24:21).
King Joash was unmindful of the devotion of Jehoiada who saved him from his evil grandmother Athaliah and put him on the throne of David (2 Chr 24:22; see also 2 Chr 22:10—23:21).
Zechariah’s fate is the last murder in the Hebrew Bible, which ends with 2 Chronicles. The first murder is that of Abel, killed by his brother Cain.
Jesus points to the dark history of the persecution of prophets whose deaths the present generation is held responsible for because of the continued rejection of God’s message spoken through contemporary figures like John the Baptist and Jesus.
First Reading • Rom 3:21-30
Brothers and sisters: Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out.
On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Gospel • Luke 11:47-54
The Lord said: “Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed. Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.