Grace and Space

Lk 11:47-54
Memorials to murders: Luke here presents the second and third woes against the scholars of the Torah and concludes the narrative with an editorial comment about how the scribes and Pharisees begin to act with hostility toward Jesus.
The second woe against the scholars of the law concerns the monuments of the prophets whom their ancestors killed. Jesus argues that they bear witness and approve of their ancestors’ deeds for, while their ancestors killed the prophets, the scholars of the law build their monuments.
Luke stretches the guilt for the murders of the prophets to the time of his writing by including the apostles. The mission of the Church, identified with the apostles in this journey-to-Jerusalem section of Luke’s Gospel, is connected with the mission of Israel, identified with the prophets. Just as the prophets were killed and persecuted by their contemporaries, so are the apostles.
The third woe against the scholars of the law accuses them of taking away “the key of knowledge” (v 52), that is, the word of God as delivered by prophets and apostles. The scholars of the law do not enter, that is, they do not observe the word of God, and by killing the prophets and the apostles, they hinder those who are trying to enter.