20141019 THE SEPARATION BETWEEN LIFE AND FAITH LEADS TO
DEHUMANIZATION
First reading Isaiah 45:1,4-6 ©
Thus says the Lord to his
anointed, to Cyrus,
whom he has taken by his
right hand
to subdue nations before him
and strip the loins of
kings,
to force gateways before him
that their gates be closed
no more:
‘It is for the sake of my
servant Jacob,
of Israel my chosen one,
that I have called you by
your name,
conferring a title though
you do not know me.
I am the Lord, unrivalled;
there is no other God besides
me.
Though you do not know me, I
arm you
that men may know from the
rising to the setting of the sun
that, apart from me, all is
nothing.’
Psalm
Psalm 95:1,3-5,7-10 ©
Give the Lord glory and
power.
O sing a new song to the
Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Give the Lord glory and
power.
The Lord is great and worthy
of praise,
to be feared above all gods;
the gods of the heathens are naught.
It was the Lord who made the
heavens,
Give the Lord glory and
power.
Give the Lord, you families
of peoples,
give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.
Bring an offering and enter
his courts.
Give the Lord glory and
power.
Worship the Lord in his
temple.
O earth, tremble before him.
Proclaim to the nations:
‘God is king.’
He will judge the peoples in fairness.
Give the Lord glory and
power.
Second reading
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 ©
From Paul, Silvanus and
Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ; wishing you grace and peace.
We always mention you in our prayers and
thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you
have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope,
in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know, brothers, that God loves you and
that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you, it
came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter
conviction.
Gospel Acclamation Jn17:17
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord:
consecrate us in the truth.
Alleluia!
Or Ph2:15-16
Alleluia, alleluia!
You will shine in the world
like bright stars
because you are offering it
the word of life.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew 22:15-21 ©
The Pharisees went away to
work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their
disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that
you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you
are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us
your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus
was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap
for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius,
and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied. He then
said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to
God what belongs to God.’
THE
SEPARATION BETWEEN LIFE AND FAITH LEADS TO DEHUMANIZATION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: IS 45:1,4-6; 1 TH 1:1-5; MT 22:15-21
http://www.universalis.com/20141019/mass.htm
“Give back to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” These words have been used by
different groups of people in different ways. For those who are in
politics and fearful of the influence of religion on the people, they say that
the gospel supports a clear separation of religion from politics. Those
who are in religion and fearful of antagonizing politicians or the government,
take refuge in these words of Jesus so that they need not be involved or
obligated in any way to stand up for their convictions. But of course,
this statement of Jesus is extended beyond politics, since politics to a great
extent affect the economic and social life of the people. That being the
reality, these same people also come to conclude that both religion and social
life; religion and economic life do not mix. Thus there is a clear
demarcation between life and religion.
As a result, religion is privatized and
seen as something entirely irrelevant to life. It is no wonder then, that
more and more people are becoming atheists, agnostics or free thinkers. If
religion has nothing to do with one’s whole life, then it implies that God can
be compartmentalized. And so we end up either with a redundant God or
with more and more so called faith believers living a dual life. This is
to say that when they are at Church, they behave like Christ’s disciples but
when they are in the world, they act and conduct themselves like
unbelievers. When we live lives of self-contradiction, unbelievers cannot
but also conclude that religion is simply another out-dated ritual practice
inherited from our forefathers. It must be abandoned, as it is a waste of
time, since it does not really matter for our happiness in life. Hence,
it is clear the separation between religion and life has led to unbelief.
Coming back to the statement of Jesus,
then, we must really ask is that what Jesus really meant? Did He
intend us to separate life from religion? Or has He been grossly
misunderstood? In order to grasp what Jesus intended, then we must understand
the context of Jesus’ response to the question of the Pharisees. The
situation surrounding the question we all know is the attempt of the Pharisees
to trap Jesus. They planned to put Jesus away or at least cause Him to
lose credibility or confidence. By answering either way, Jesus would
either incur the wrath of the Romans and the government but gained the approval
of His countrymen, or vice versa. He would either then be charged
for treason by the Roman government or for betrayal by the Jews.
Thus, the answer given by Jesus was to
circumvent such a situation. The statement that we must give back to
Caesar what belongs to Caesar; and to God what belongs to God would therefore
mean that Jesus wanted to go beyond mere human politics. The question
we need to ask ourselves is this: if it is true that we must give back to
God what belongs to Him, then necessarily we must ask what is it that does
not belong to God?
To this question, we cannot say that
there are some things that do not belong to God. In fact, everything
belongs to God since everything comes from Him. There is certainly no
question of exclusion of anything whatsoever. After all, the kingdom
that Jesus Himself proclaimed is not merely a spiritual kingdom nor a
political kingdom but a kingdom that encompasses every dimension of life.
It is a kingdom of love, justice, freedom and peace. This kingdom can
only be realized when everything comes under the rule of God, the rule of the
values of the gospel. This is adequately brought out in the scripture
readings of today.
In the first reading from Prophet
Isaiah, God made it clear that Cyrus’ conquest of Israel was possible only
because it was permitted by God. God had chosen Cyrus even without his
explicit knowing to be His instrument for His divine providence. Not only
for Cyrus but for all human authorities on earth! Indeed, only Yahweh is King
of all the earth. God entrusts all other earthly kings, governments
and authorities with power and use them knowingly or unknowingly to promote His
cause. God is the unrivalled and there can be no other gods besides
Him. By implication then, even Caesar belongs to God. Like
Cyrus, Caesar is called by God to reveal His plan of salvation in ways unknown
to them. Hence, we must state emphatically that there is no
separation between politics and religion. Of course, we must qualify
ourselves in no uncertain terms that while the Church might have to speak out
the truth and things that concern universal values for the good of the people,
the Church certainly does not engage herself with any partisan politics or any
political party as such. The Church is not a political party and we do
not subscribe to any form of government since there is no perfect system of
government or economic system in the world.
This intrinsic relationship between
religion and life is also highlighted in the second reading as well. In
the letter of St Paul, we are also told that God is the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ and of all. Because God is our Father, we are all His
children. That is why, we are also told that in the gospel that Jesus was
“not afraid of anyone because a man’s rank” means nothing to him; nothing
because all are equal in the sight of God, and even if one has a special rank,
it is because the Father gives it to him. So there is nothing to boast about
who we are and what we have. So with people there is nothing to
fear. They too are creatures bestowed with God’s blessings for a
purpose. We need not be awed or be fearful of people who are rich, powerful
and hold authority. After all, without God’s blessings and grace, they
are also beggars like us. Rather we must fear God who gives all and
can take back all. Instead of feeling great about oneself and one’s
status or one’s wealth, we must feel humble and be grateful for the blessings
that God has given to us so that we can use them for His divine plan.
Indeed, St Paul makes it clear that this God who is Father must be manifested
in the way we live our lives. He reminded the Thessalonians that they
must show their “faith in action, worked for love and preserved through hope in
our Lord Jesus Christ.” We too cannot afford to live our faith that is
not expressed in love and in hope.
The message of today’s scripture
lessons should be clear: there is no dichotomy between religion and
politics; between religion and life. Faith in God as our Father and
in our Lord Jesus Christ permeates every dimension of our lives since
everything is consecrated to God. There can be no area of life that can
be compartmentalized in such a way that God is bracketed out of it. This
would be a vain illusion. At any rate, a dichotomy between religion and life
will necessarily lead to the dehumanization of man since man is made of
matter and spirit. He has a soul since he is made in the image of
God. Man, although created to be human, is also created to be for God and
to be like God in many ways. Man alienated from God in his life will
degenerate into a materialistic being and be reduced to the level of animals.
He will become unfulfilled and groundless and aimless.
Indeed, a religion which is
untouched by life and uninvolved in life can hardly be called a religion at all,
since religion is a devotion of one’s entire being to someone who can command
our total surrender. If God is to be God, then certainly God must be
entirely present in all things. Without His presence in every facet of
life, religion becomes a ritual, emptied of meaning and ineffectual to
life. And with the absence of God in our lives, everything will lose its
ground and purpose. There will be a loss of values since eternal values
such as honesty, charity, and truthfulness are all grounded in God who is truth
and love. Without God, there is no basis for morality at all, since
everything is relative. Without God, there cannot be any total surrender
to anything because it would mean surrender to nothing.
Thus, today, we are called to recognize
that all of us have been chosen by God in some ways as Paul tells us in
the second reading to be instruments for His divine plan. God
chose us because He loves us and He wants us all to experience Him as Father
and Christ as our Lord. To be chosen means that we are called to proclaim
His good news to others, just as Paul was to the Thessalonians. But this proclamation
is not to be done merely in words or rituals, but as Paul declared, it must be
carried out with “power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction.”
In other words, the Good News we proclaim must show itself as power to liberate
us from our slavery and fear and aimlessness of life; it must be shown that the
only authentic life is life in the Spirit; and that this life is lived in such
a way that it is full of zeal and commitment both to God and to our fellow
human beings.
This is the whole purpose of religion
and faith: that we might live an integrated life, a life with God so that we can live a
harmonious life with each other and be committed to the building of his kingdom
of love, justice and mercy on earth as in heaven. Faith in God who is our
life therefore is the overarching reality for such a kingdom to exist. If
faith cannot give meaning to our entire life, then we can be certain that we
are worshipping a false image of God. Such a God who has been
domesticated and created in our own image must be purified so that the true God
who is the Father and Lord of all, in whom all of us are called to imitate and
be transformed into his likeness can be a reality in our lives. Yes,
everything in life must somehow be seen in the perspective of the Gospel. The
teachings of Christ must be the guiding principles of everything that we live
and do. In this way, we do not live a dual life, a life of faith
and our human life. There is only one life and it must be lived
holistically if we are not to become a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a kind of split
personality. Only a holistic way of life is truly a wholesome and godly
life because only such a life can proclaim that God lives in us and we in Him.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
©
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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