20140715 WARNING AGAINST THE SIN OF INDIFFERENCE
Daily Reading for Tuesday, July 15th, 2014
Reading 1, Isaiah 7:1-9
1 In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king
of Judah, Razon king of Aram advanced on Jerusalem with
Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, to attack it; but he was unable to attack
it.
2 The House of David was informed: 'Aram has halted in
Ephraimite territory.' At this, his heart and his people's hearts shook like
forest trees shaking in the wind.
3 Yahweh then said to Isaiah, 'Go out with your son
Shear-Jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the
road to the Fuller's Field,
4 and say to him, "Pay attention and keep calm. Do
not be frightened or demoralised by these two smouldering sticks of firewood,
by the fierce anger of Razon,
Aram and the son of Remaliah,
5 or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have
been plotting against you and saying:
6 Let us mount an attack on Judah, destroy it, force it
onto our side and install the son of Tabeel there as king.
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is
Razon; another sixty-five years, and Ephraim will cease to be
a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the
son of Remaliah. If you will not take
your stand on me you will not stand
firm." '
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 48:2-3, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
2 towering in beauty, the joy of the whole world: Mount
Zion in the heart of the north, the settlement of the great king;
3 God himself among its palaces has proved himself its
bulwark.
5 without a second glance, when they saw, they panicked
and fled away.
7 it was the east wind, that wrecker of ships from
Tarshish.
8 What we had heard we saw for ourselves in the city of
our God, in the city of Yahweh Sabaoth,
which God has
established for ever.
Gospel, Matthew 11:20-24
20 Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of
his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.
21 'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For
if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 Still, I tell you that it will be more
bearable for Tyre and Sidon on
Judgement Day than for you.
23 And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be raised as
high as heaven? You shall be flung down to hell. For if the miracles done in
you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet.
Scripture
Reflection
WARNING AGAINST THE SIN OF INDIFFERENCE
“Alas
for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in
you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes.” Yes, we cannot but feel with Jesus in His
sadness and regret for those people living in Chorazin, Bethsaida and
Caperrnaum. What affected Jesus most was not because these people
were hostile towards Him, because if it were so, then perhaps the hostility would
be indicative that His message was provoking some discomfort in their lives.
The truth is that when people react to what we say and do, even if negatively,
it means there is hope, because they are thinking and are being
challenged. They might not agree with us then, but on hindsight they
might come to accept our message. But if people are not even moved by our
message, then all that we say or do are in vain. And that is why there
is no greater sin than the sin of indifference! This, according to
Jesus, is even worse than the sin of Sodom, well known for its notorious and
sinful living. Indeed, we know from the Old Testament that Sodom was a
city of sin because God could not even find ten righteous men in that city.
But the
condemnation of the people in these towns is also our condemnation.
We are no better than them in many ways. We too are guilty of the sin of
indifference. Indeed, we have taken so many things for granted in life.
Many of us have taken our faith for granted. We are not intent on deepening
our spiritual life, even when we have been given all the opportunities that
people elsewhere do not have. We forget the privilege of being called to
faith as Christians. There are many people in the world looking for life,
but their lives remain empty in spite of their wealth and success. How
many of us thank God everyday for the gift of faith, peace and freedom to
worship and to practice our faith? Instead, we have been careless.
Instead of seeing them as gifts from God, we think that they are our rights.
Indeed, we are just like the people of these towns that Jesus felt sorry
for. They too had the most of everything, but they did not respond to the
gospel message. Indeed, the gospel tells us that most of His miracles
were worked in these towns.
What
are the reasons for the sin of indifference? Firstly, it is the result of lacking sensitivity
to the wonders of life. The word “miracle” in the gospel is
translated as dunameis and semeion, that is, signs of wonder. Because
they are works of wonder, they are expressed in Latin as ‘miraculum’, from
which the English word, ‘miracle’ is translated. So if the people did not
repent, it was due to the fact that they did not see the works that Jesus did
as signs of wonder. Perhaps Jesus worked so many miracles there that
these works became ordinary to them. It is true for us too. When we
received our First Holy Communion we were filled with wonder. But very
soon, we got used to it, so much so that we do not appreciate the Eucharist anymore.
That is why many of us do not appreciate the Mass or the sacraments until we
are deprived of them.
Secondly,
this sin of indifference could be due to the sin of pride. This
was the sin of those people staying in Capernaum. We are told in the
gospel that Capernaum was the city where Jesus lived. And we know
elsewhere in the gospel that Jesus did lament once, that a prophet is never
accepted in his own country. Perhaps, if the people did not heed the
message of Jesus, it was because they were too proud to listen to Him. No
wonder Jesus said, “And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as
high as heaven?” Pride is certainly one of the main obstacles for not
wanting to listen to God who speaks to us through others. We feel
that we know better than them. This lack of humility is a real obstacle
to conversion in our lives.
Thirdly,
the sin of indifference is the result of the lack of faith, or the lack
of trust. This was the case of Ahaz, the King of Judah in the first
reading. Not only was he blind to the sign that God gave him in the form
of Prophet Isaiah and his son, She-ar-ja-shub, but he refused to surrender his
life to God. Through Prophet Isaiah, God told Ahaz not to align himself
with the King of Aram, i.e. Syria and the King of Ephraim, that is, the
Northern tribe of Israel against the Assyrian invaders. But Ahaz refused
to take this sign from Isaiah, that his kingdom would not be destroyed
entirely, but that the remnant would come back. Similarly for us too, we
do not trust in God sufficiently. We doubt His love and providence in
spite of the fact that over the years He had looked after us.
As a
result of the lack of sensitivity to the wonders of God in our lives, pride and
our lack of faith, we resort to relying on ourselves, like Ahaz in the first
reading. In so doing, we have to pay a price for our foolishness, just as
Ahaz did. Yes, today, the Lord is warning us, “if you do not stand by me,
you will not stand at all.” When we do not put our trust in God but
instead rely only on ourselves, then we deceive ourselves. When we do not
listen anymore, or can see no further than ourselves, then indeed we are
blind. Such blindness to what God intends for us, especially through the
events of our lives or the people that we meet, will surely destroy us
eventually.
Yes,
let us realize that when we refuse the signs of God that have come into
our lives, then we will ultimately have to accept the consequences that
the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum suffered. When we fail to
appreciate what we have, be it our faith, our calling, our material well-being,
one day, these will be taken away from us and then we will regret, albeit
sometimes a bit too late. So, today let us pray for openness,
sensitivity and most of all, gratitude to God’s wonders, miracles and His
blessings in our lives. Only when we are open, sensitive and
appreciative, can we respond to His grace. And only when we have the
ability to respond to God’s wonders or signs in our lives would we can be
saved. So let us ask ourselves what are these signs and wonders that we
have been indifferent or blind to, lest we suffer the consequences of our sin
of indifference.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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