Luke 11:47-54: A Prayer for This Generation
Sunday, October 29, 2023
We continue to pray and reflect on the crisis in the Middle East.
How terrible for you! You make fine tombs for the prophets—the very prophets your ancestors murdered.
Knowing that all generations falter in their hope to follow Christ, we pray for ourselves and for all who are willing to ask for hope in hopeless situations.
You yourselves admit, then, that you approve of what your ancestors did; they murdered the prophets, and you build their tombs.
Knowing that all generation murder prophets and bury them in white-washed tombs, we pray for ourselves and for all who honor life that comes from God.
How terrible for you teachers of the Law! You have kept the key that opens the door to the house of knowledge; you yourselves will not go in, and you stop those who are trying to go in!
Knowing that all generations hold the key of knowledge and use it for good and for ill, we pray for ourselves and all who continue to prophesize in the face of corruption.
So the people of this time will be punished for the murder of all the prophets killed since the creation of the world.
Knowing that all generations both bless and condemn the Spirit, we pray for ourselves and all who are willing to unravel plots and reveal those who freely deceive others.
When Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began trying to lay traps for him and catch him saying something wrong.
Knowing that all generations lay plots and lie in waiting to put an end to goodness, we pray for ourselves and all who dare to bring light to the world.
When Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to criticize him bitterly and ask him questions about many things.
Knowing that God’s enormous love is capable of healing all wounds, bridging all abysses, and restoring all peace, we pray for ourselves and for all who persist in carrying God’s love into the world.
Amen.
For more images of Jesus driving the money-lenders from the Temple, click on the image above or visit: http://www.artble.com/artists/el_greco/paintings/the_purification_of_the_temple
The El Greco image is from: https://collections.frick.org/objects/197/purification-of-the-temple
The Noontimes 