Lk 11:47-54
[Jesus said,] 47“Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.49Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51from 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!
52Woe 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.”53When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, 54for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
Reflection:
They were plotting to catch him. Here is a clear case of people killing the messenger and missing the message. We hate people who speak the truth and tell us things as they are, not the things we like to hear or are afraid to hear. We silence prophets and shoot critics.
What is the best approach to critics? It is to prove them wrong, to live lives without reproach, to act in such a way that people cannot say anything against us, and to do things in an upright manner that justice and truth may always surface. Then, no one can say to us, “Woe to you, Pharisees!”
Speak well of an enemy today.