Prayer: Lord of heaven and earth, help us to follow Your example of wisdom and understanding and show us the deeper issues that people bring to us and not to deal with only the things on the surface but to touch on the issues which matter the most in Your Kingdom. May we truly live as followers of Jesus our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Read St. Luke 20: 1- 8
The religious leaders of the time question Jesus’ authority. They want to know by what authority is Jesus healing and teaching.
Jesus then asks them a question…. Was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? The religious leaders know if they answer from heaven then Jesus will ask why they didn’t believe John’s teachings. If the religious leaders answer that the baptism was from men, then the crowd will be extremely angry as they called John the Baptist a prophet.
Any answer the religious leaders given, they will have their necks on the line. So they decide to do nothing and not give an answer. But by not answering, they are giving Jesus an answer. Their answer is they don’t want the responsibility of having to put their necks on the line.
Do we do this in our Churches today too? Do we not stand up for what we believe? Unfortunately, we frequently do not stand up for what we believe. So what should we do? If we see an injustice in our Church, we must stand up for what we believe. But what if we are blocked from correcting the injustice? Then we pray about the situation and go talk to the person or group that is doing the injustice. If the person or group that is doing the injustice will not listen and will not change, we keep the injustice in our prayers and ask God to continue to use us to help right all wrongs.
Prayer: God of all authority, from You comes the challenge to be a just and compassionate people, to act in ways that will build up and strengthen the power of the weak. Walk with us as we seek to act for justice in the places You lead us to today. Amen
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