Moving From Woe To Well Being

Galatians 5:18-25 
Luke 11:42-46

Today’s gospel is filled with woe. In a rather short passage, a clearly disgruntled Jesus utters four declarations of woe, warning the Pharisees and a “scholar of the law” that they will all come to a sorry end if they do not redirect their misguided lives.As Christ continue to rebuke the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, the lawyer that poked his nose into the matter was not speared. He wanted to justify his heart and Jesus exposed his guilt.

But are we really any different? Haven’t all of us, like these Pharisees and the lawyer, sometimes lived by the wrong priorities? Haven’t we too occasionally given lesser things far more attention than they deserve and more important things not nearly enough? If so, Jesus’ promises of woe are meant for us as well.

And yet, there is hope. We can move from woe to well being, from death-in-life to real life, if we replace all that might be misguided about our lives with the fruits of the Spirit that Paul delineates in the reading from Galatians. As he assures us, we make our way into the Kingdom of God when our lives are characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we embody those virtues, all our woes will soon be left behind.

Let us therefore improve our own errors and shortcomings, our failures, and faults while we leave the imperfection of others to God. God is the eternal judge and he knows our hearts. This week, let us practice kind and loving thoughts toward others. May God help us as we reflect on His words so that we may be messengers of His mercy, not of judgment

Fr Osho