First Reading: Rm 3:21-30; Psalm: 130. R. v. 7bc; Gospel: Lk 11 47-54

THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Lk 11:52).

Jesus continues his tirade against the scribes and Pharisees. In the gospel of today, he brought three charges against them. Concerning his third charge Jesus said; “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” What exactly does Jesus mean by the key of knowledge? And how can we explain Jesus’ accusation that the lawyers did not enter and have also hindered others from entering?

There is no other way to come to the perfect knowledge of God except through faith. So when Jesus spoke of the key of knowledge, he was referring to faith. Although faith is a supernatural gift of God, but we know that human actions can hinder the faith of people especially by false teachings and misinterpretation of the scriptures. These set of lawyers complicated the scriptures by their interpretations claiming monopoly of knowledge in regard to God and to God’s law thereby misinterpreting the scriptures and misleading the people. They have refused to listen to Jesus and as well hindered the people from coming to faith. 

One of the crises of Christianity is the rise of several Churches. This has left the interpretation of the scriptures to the discretion of several misguided preachers who are after their selfish gain than the salvation of souls. We still have a lot of religious leaders and Christians today who deceive people by their false interpretation of God’s word. This has led to conflicting understanding of God’s word that people do not know what to believe anymore. When it comes to our faith life, we need to be careful on who we listen to and what we absorb; to avoid being misled and to save our souls.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Lord Jesus, give us the discernment of spirit to know your true teachings. Amen.