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The Meditari SafariThe readings: Jesus's dinner at the Pharisee's house ends badly. He tells the religious leaders that they build monuments to the prophets their ancestors killed, honoring dead prophets while ignoring living ones. And he says the scholars of the law have "taken away the key of knowledge": they don't go in themselves, and they block the people who are trying to. When Jesus leaves, they start plotting against him. In the first reading, Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians with a burst of praise: God chose us "before the foundation of the world" and has "blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing."
What it means: The key of knowledge is meant to open doors, not lock them. Religious people can turn faith into a gatekeeping job: deciding who's in, making it harder for others. Jesus says that's the opposite of what God wants. Paul shows what God wants instead: everyone welcomed, chosen, blessed, all things gathered together in Christ. Today's saint, Teresa of Ávila, spent her life opening the door to prayer for others, even when church authorities tried to shut it.
Across the traditions: the same truth, in other words.
Carry it today: Is there a door you're keeping closed to someone who's trying to get in?
All week Jesus has been at the same dinner table: no sign for the crowd, the inside of the cup, herbs and fruit. Today it ends with a key, and with Paul's reminder that God threw the door open before the world began.
1. Monuments to the Prophets
"Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed."
2. From Abel to Zechariah
Jesus says this generation will answer "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah" (11:51).
3. The Key of Knowledge
"Woe 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."
4. The Plot Begins
"When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say."
5. Chosen Before the Foundation of the World
Ephesians opens like a song: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him." No one gets in by being let through the gate by an expert. God chose us before we did anything, and his plan is "to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth." That's the answer to every locked door in today's Gospel. The key is grace, and it was given to be shared.
St. Teresa of Ávila is one of the great teachers of prayer, and Ephesians 1 is one of the great texts on God's choosing.
Carry it today: Pray Teresa's way for five minutes today: simply talk with God as a friend.
What is Stoicism? A philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC in Athens, named for the painted porch (stoa) where he taught. Its most famous teachers are Epictetus, born into slavery; Seneca, a Roman statesman; and the emperor Marcus Aurelius. The Stoics taught that we can't control events, only our judgments and choices. Their four virtues are wisdom, courage, justice and self-control.
"If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book 6, Long translation.) Marcus goes on to say that he seeks the truth, which never harmed anyone; the person who is harmed is the one who stays in error and ignorance. Here is the most powerful man in the world inviting correction. The scholars of the law did the opposite: when Jesus showed them they were wrong, they started plotting. The Stoic way, and the gospel way, is to let the truth in, even when it stings.
Today's readings through a Bahá'í lens: the open door of knowledge.
19 Mashíyyat 183 B.E., the last day of the month of Will. (Mashíyyat is Arabic for "Will," as in God's will. B.E. means "Bahá'í Era," counted from 1844.) The month of Knowledge ('Ilm) begins at sunset, with its Nineteen Day Feast tomorrow.
Today's readings through Hindu and Jain eyes: Skandamata and the teacher.
Today is Shukla Panchami, the fifth day of the bright half (Chaturthi ends at 1:13 AM India time), with the moon moving from Anuradha into Jyeshtha (per Indian calendars; exact Chicago times couldn't be confirmed).
What the words mean (all Sanskrit):
Today's readings through a Sikh lens: the Guru is the light.
Hukamnama (the verse drawn each morning from the Guru Granth Sahib at the Golden Temple and read by Sikhs worldwide): Ang 690, Raag Dhanasari, a chhant by Guru Ram Das. It opens, "When the Dear Lord grants His Grace, one meditates on the Naam, the Name of the Lord" (the rest of the translation couldn't be read today). Grace first, then the opening: like Ephesians, chosen before we did anything.
Today's readings through an Islamic lens: knowledge is for sharing.
4 Jumada al-Ula 1448 (may differ by a day where the moon is sighted locally).
Today's readings through a Jewish lens: Torah open to all.
4 Cheshvan 5787.
Today's readings through a Buddhist lens: no closed fist.
No uposatha today. Next one: the quarter moon on October 19 (per the Wat Metta calendar). The rains retreat ends with Pavāraṇā on October 26.
The time. Jesus's ministry was around AD 28–30; Luke wrote around AD 80–90. Ephesians was written either by Paul from prison around AD 60–62 or by a follower around AD 80–90. Ephesus, home to the great Temple of Artemis, was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire.
What scholars broadly agree on. Monumental tombs for prophets and righteous people were being built around Jerusalem in Jesus's time; tombs traditionally linked to the prophets can still be seen in the Kidron Valley. Luke's "wisdom of God said" quotes a saying not found in the Old Testament, perhaps from a lost writing or Jesus speaking as God's Wisdom. Many scholars note that Ephesians' style and vocabulary differ from Paul's undisputed letters, but its ideas are clearly Pauline.
What it meant then. Honoring the tombs of prophets was a sign of piety, and Jesus turns it into an accusation. "Lawyers" or "scholars of the law" were scribes, the experts who interpreted the Law for the community. In Ephesians, the language of being "chosen" is borrowed from Israel's identity as God's chosen people, now opened to Gentiles too, which is the theme of the whole letter.
The allegorical readings. The fathers read the "key of knowledge" as the key of faith, which unlocks Scripture to show Christ. Teresa read the soul as a castle with seven sets of rooms; the journey of prayer is moving inward toward the King at the center.
What's debated or unknown. Scholars debate which Zechariah Jesus means: the priest stoned in 2 Chronicles 24, or the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah (Matthew 23:35 adds that name). Authorship of Ephesians is still debated, as is whether the letter was written for Ephesus alone; the words "in Ephesus" are missing from some of the earliest manuscripts.
Theologian Willie James Jennings remembers how his parents made a home of safety and belonging through the stories they told, stories shaped by their faith in Jesus. His mother's garden gave the family a place of freedom: "The garden announced to them and the world that they were absolutely free to be themselves." Today's Gospel is about keys and locked doors; Jennings's parents built a home whose door was always open.
Br. Jamie points out that the Lord's Prayer begins with "our," so whenever we pray it, "We pray with Jesus and with each other." It's a quiet answer to today's gatekeepers: prayer belongs to everyone.
God keeps setting a table and inviting us past the judgments that divide us, the opposite of taking away the key.
Drawing on Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (p. 67), the reading notes that gossip can be a way of proclaiming our own righteousness. The writer catches it creeping in at the end of a tired day, and concludes that the only inventory we need to take is of ourselves; judging others belongs to God. The scholars of the law could have used it. Read it.