Voting for the Millstone, by Randall Smith

By Randall Smith,  The Catholic Thing, September 3, 2024

Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.

At Mass the other day, I heard that passage in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus says: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’” (23:29-30) It makes me wonder if I had lived during the time of the prophets, would I have been one of those who wanted them stoned to death?

So too, if I had been alive when Christ was on earth, would I have heeded the call or hated the man and the message?  It’s nice to imagine that I would have been more like Mary Magdalene than like the members of the Sanhedrin, but more people rejected Him than listened and followed. If it’s a mistake most people make, it’s a mistake I probably would have made too. …

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