Tuesday, 23 December 2014

20140706 HUMILITY IN WELCOMING JESUS INTO OUR HEARTS AS THE KEY TO PEACE

20140706 HUMILITY IN WELCOMING JESUS INTO OUR HEARTS AS THE KEY TO PEACE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 
ZECHARIAH 9:9-10;

9 Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem! Look, your king is approaching, he is vindicated and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished. He will proclaim peace to the nations, his empire will stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the limits of the earth.

ROMANS 8:9.11-13;

9 You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified;
11 and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
12 So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it.
13 If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life.


25 At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.
26 Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.
27 Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 'Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.'

Many of us feel burdened in life.  There is no peace in our hearts.  We live lives of anxiety, fear and resentment.  We cannot let go of many things in the past.  We are worried about the future.   We are stressed with our responsibilities at home and at the work place.  We have enemies from within and without.  But the real enemy from within is ourselves.  We are not just fighting with people whom we love but ourselves.  We cannot overcome our anger, addictions and unforgiveness in our hearts.   So the burden we carry is our sins, guilt, resentment and fear.  Our enemies from without are the oppositions and persecutions that come from the world.  They are opposed to our Christian lifestyle and message.  We find ourselves struggling to be faithful to the gospel values that are proposed by Christ in our daily life.
This is what Jesus comes to free us from.  He comes to fill us with His love, peace and joy.   He understands our struggles.   He Himself faced the trials in His ministry.  Earlier on, His cousin, John the Baptist was put in prison.  Then He was accused of being a glutton.  He Himself faced failure and rejection in Capernaum, Korazin and Bethsaida. Even though these people saw Him and heard His message, they continued to remain defiant to the Word of God and refused to repent and believe.
If we are feeling helpless and hopeless, the Lord invites us to come to Him so that He can give us rest.  He told the disciples, “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.”  What is this rest?  Does it mean there will be no more problems?  This rest is not so much physical rest or rest from work but from ambition and a meaningless life of toil and labour.  It is the rest of God, the Sabbath rest, when we entrust our whole life to the Lord who is our creator and redeemer.  This is the rest that the bible speaks about.  This rest comes from doing the will of God in which we find peace, meaning and purpose.  When God invites us to rest on the Sabbath, it is a reminder that we are not in charge of this world.  God is in charge and we are called to surrender our lives to Him.   As the prophet says, “His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.”
What then is the secret to resting in the Lord?  Jesus said, “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.”   We are called to be humble in recognizing our limitations and be docile to the will of God.   Only when we allow God to reign in our lives and do His will, can we find peace and freedom from all fears.   Being true to our conscience sets us free.  This is what St Paul says about walking in the Spirit.  “Your interests are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you.”  Conversely, by not doing His will there is no peace.  “So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.”
How to surrender to His will?  What are the obstacles to peace and rest?  Firstly, it is pride.   Indeed, either we allow God to rule our lives or we create our own kingdom.  Pride is the downfall of humanity and remains the fundamental sin of humanity.  When the world glorifies man and elevates Him to be gods, this is the height of idolatry and self-destruction.  This is because they are too proud.  They only want their ways.  They try to justify their individualistic, self-centered preferences using reason.  They deceive themselves into thinking that they know the Truth without God.  If we fail to admit our ignorance about many things especially the things of the spirit we cannot find peace.  Those who are proud, over-rationalistic close their minds to divine revelation.  Only those who are humble can submit themselves to the Word of God. 
If we want to find peace, we must create the right disposition.  We need the humility of a child.  Jesus said so many times that if we want to enter the kingdom of God, we must be like a little child.  He said, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.”  In the first reading, we read how Jesus Himself comes to us as a humble king.  “See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  This prophecy is fulfilled on Palm Sunday when He entered Jerusalem to establish the kingdom of God.  He did not use power to overcome His enemies but humble and forgiving love.  
The second motive why we resist the will of God is ignorance of the Father’s love and wisdom.    If we don’t obey Him, it is because we do not know the heart of the Father.  We don’t believe that He loves us and desires everything for our good.  Truly, if the world rejects the message of Jesus, it is because they do not know the Father sufficiently to trust Him.  They are not His children because they reject the Father.  They choose to be orphans and thus lack identity and security.  Unless we have confidence in the Father’s love and divine providence, we cannot surrender our lives to Him.  If Jesus were able to fulfill His Father’s will even unto death on the cross, it is because of His intimacy with His Father.
Thirdly, many fail to realize the power of Grace.  The coming of God’s kingdom of peace, love and joy is not dependent purely on our efforts but the grace of God.    That is why we always pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”  The first reading says that the humble king “will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished.”  Indeed to overcome our trials in life, it cannot be our own strength but by His Spirit.  St Paul says, “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” We need to rely on His love and mercy.  The psalmist says, “The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.  How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.”
How do we acquire this Spirit?  We need to humbly welcome Him into our lives.  He does not force Himself in but waits to be invited.  How then can we allow Him to come into our hearts?  Come to Jesus in prayer.  Only Jesus can show us the Father because He is one with Him.   That is why He said, “Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  This is what we mean when we claim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Through contemplation and prayer, we will come to know the heart of the Father and His love for us.  Jesus is the revealer of the Father.   He and Father will make their home in us.  Most of all, He will send us the Holy Spirit in His name.  Only in Jesus, can we share the life and love of God in the same Spirit.
Secondly, we must come to know the Father though Jesus in the Holy Spirit.  To know the Father is more than just knowledge but a personal intimacy with Him in heart and mind.  Experiencing His personal love is the key to be in union with Him.  Just as the communion between the Father and the Son is what unites them, it is too for us.   This is the secret of Jesus, His Abba experience.  The Spirit of the Father lives in Him.  That is why He said that He and Father are one.  His food is to do the will of the Father.  He wills what the Father wills.  In union with His Father, He found rest and peace even in the face of persecution. This is what St Paul is urging us too, “In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him.”  We need to allow God to live in us.  We must pray for a conscious experience and renewal of the Holy Spirit in our lives, not as a doctrine but a living experience.  How do you know?  When you feel the love, joy and peace of God in your hearts and you begin to walk in the Spirit of truth and love. 
We can take heart that no matter what happens, the psalmist assures us that He will deliver us. “The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. The Lord supports all who fall and raises all who are bowed down.”  Indeed, why should we fear when the Spirit of God dwells in us?  He will lead us and guide us.  He will work in and through us, giving us the strength to overcome all tribulations and challenges.  We are children of God sharing in the suffering and the glory of Christ.
So with the psalmist, we can find rest in Him.  Let us never be discouraged.  Discouragement is the work of the Devil.  He wants us to fall into despair and give up doing good and seeking the truth, especially in the face of resistance.   But this battle is not ours because God is our commander in chief.  He will win the battle for us.  So long as we do His will and we have a clear conscience, we will find rest and peace even when the storms of life are raging outside of us.  With the psalmist we can glorify God saying, “I will give you glory, O God my king, I will bless your name forever.”
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH

ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No comments:

Post a Comment